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[av_heading heading=’Rain or Shine stays alive in Govs’ Cup playoffs ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Rain or Shine Elasto Painters staved off an endgame run by TNT KaTropa to escape with a 106-102 win in the PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals yesterday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
J’Nathan Bullock led the way with double-double 31 points and 14 rebounds while Gabe Norwood and Raymond Almazan had 15 and 13 points, respectively, for Painters.
With the win, the No. 7 Painters forced a do-or-die quarterfinals match with the No. 2 KaTropa on Friday night. KaTropa needed only one win to enter the semifinals with its twice-to-beat advantage.
Painters surged to an early 8-4 lead on back-to-back triples by Bullock but KaTropa countered with a run to snatch a 23-17 lead on a trey by Glen Rice Jr. Painters answered back with 5 straight points from Chris Tiu to come to within 26-28.
KaTropa managed to raise the lead to 36-28 but triples by Bullock and Celedonio Trollano tied the score 42-all before treys by Norwood and Bullock pushed Painters to get ahead 52-47.
TNT started strong in the third frame on hits by Jayson Castro to regain the lead 72-69 but Painters countered with triples from Tiu, Norwood and Beau Belga to surge to an 84-75 lead.
Painters continued with outside shooting in the fourth to build its largest lead 102-82 on hits by Bullock and Maverick Ahanmisi but KaTropa made a huge run to trim the deficit 95-102.
KaTropa pulled even closer 102-105 after a 3-pointer by Castro and four straight points by Rice. But free throws by Ahanmisi and Norwood sealed the victory for Rain or Shine.
On the other hand, Star Hotshots became the first team to advance to the semifinals after its come-from-behind win over NLEX Road Warriors 89-77 on Tuesday night.
Kristofer Acox had 21 points and 12 rebounds for Hotshots, which will face the winner in the Meralco Bolts-Blackwater Elite game, which was being played as of press time, in a best-of-five semifinal series./PN
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