PBA Semis: Rain or Shine Tied Series with a Big Help from Bench

Ty Tang and Gabe Norwood provided the support for ROS win

        
           The Elasto Painters came out with more intensity and shot better from the field to take a lopsided 110-95 victory in Game Four and tie their best-of-seven semifinal series in the 2011-12 PBA Philippine Cup Tuesday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum. Gary David got his 30-point game anew, but Powerade suffered an ugly loss to Rain or Shine.

         Rain or Shine pruned down the series into a best-of-three affair and probably got the momentum back for the first time since winning the series opener. Jeff Chan led the Elasto Painters’ balanced attack with 19 points, while rookie Paul Lee added 15 to bounce back from a bad finish in Game Three, where they dropped a 121-113 decision to the Tigers in overtime. Ronnie Matias and Gabe Norwood added 12 and 11 points, respectively, while Beau Belga chipped in 10. JR Quinahan and Larry Rodriguez each had nine points for the Elasto Painters.

            “We just shot better and worked harder. Mas masipag kami ngayon,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao. “It’s nice to celebrate the win but we just evened the series. We’ll be going back to the gym and prepare for the best-of-three.”

              David finished with 30 points, his sixth straight game with at least 30, but those were hardly felt by Powerade, which was clearly outplayed by Rain or Shine for 48 minutes. TY Tang fueled the Elasto Painters’ break-away in the third quarter with nifty passes to teammates as they turned a 54-43 halftime lead to a 79-61 cushion entering the final period. They led by as much as 20 points, 86-66, and were never threatened since. After David hit a three-pointer for his 30th point, Tigers coach Bo Perasol pulled him out with two minutes left in the game.

         “Pure and simple, we were outplayed by Rain or Shine,” said Perasol, who couldn’t get anything from his mainstays and was forced to dig deep into his bench. At one stage, Powerade had Rudy Lingganay, Celino Cruz, Francis Allera, Romel Adducul and Josh Vanlandingham on the floor, but still couldn’t find any spark. Perasol even tried seldom-used James Martinez but the result was the same. “My players know what they need to adjust,” said Perasol. Marcio Lassiter also had 18 points for Powerade, majority of which came when the game was already decided. (source: interaktv.ph)

The scores:

RAIN OR SHINE 110 – Chan 19, Lee 15, Matias 12, Norwood 11, Belga 10, Tang 9, Quinahan 9, Rodriguez 6, Buenafe 6, Arana 5, Cruz 4, Ibanes 4, Uyloan 0, Jaime 0.

POWERADE 95 – David 30, Lassiter 18, Kramer 12, Anthony 11, Casio 9, Vanlandingham 7, Lingganay 4, Adducul 2, Antonio 2, Martinez 0, Allera 0, Cruz 0, Crisano 0.

Quarters: 25-21, 53-45, 79-61, 110-95