Rain or Shine’s survival instinct kicked in at the perfect time to pull a shocker over Barangay Ginebra, 115-111, and secure Game 1 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup best-of-seven semifinals series on Wednesday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
The Elasto Painters ignited a crucial 11-0 run inside the last two minutes to turn a five-point deficit to a six-point advantage with only 38 seconds left.
Jhonard Clarito sealed the deal with a pair of free throws after a four-pointer by Scottie Thompson cut the Kings’ deficit to only two before tapping away the inbounds that denied Ginebra a four-point attempt to force a decider as time expired.
“We just stuck to our roles. I just played my role in the team. Grabbing rebounds, defending and scoring. I think I just got lucky nailing that three-pointer,” said Clarito, who scored 25 points.
Jaylen Johnson led Rain or Shine with 40 points and grabbed 19 rebounds while Gian Mamuyac and Adrian Nocum submitted 18 and 16 markers, respectively. Adrian Nocum scored 16.
Johnson hit a huge four-pointer to spark Rain or Shine’s deluge of baskets from 102-107 down for a 113-107 advantage following a Clarito trey and a Mamuyac jumper.
Thompson stopped the Kings’ bleeding with a lobbing four-pointer just moments after getting a swollen bump on the forehead from an inadvertent kick from Clarito on a loose ball with 19.5 seconds. Clarito then made a successful trip to the line for the final count.
“I thought they shot really well especially RJ (Abarrientos). We couldn’t find a solution to RJ initially. We also had a hard time matching up against (Justin) Brownlee but I’m really proud of the guys because our mindset is to show up and compete,” Elasto Painters coach Yeng Guiao said.
Brownlee had 32 points, Abarrientos added 21 markers and Thompson finished with 17 points and seven boards.
Game 2 is on Friday.
