Games on Sunday:
(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
5:15 p.m. — NLEX vs Phoenix
7:30 p.m. — Ginebra vs San Miguel Beer
Rain or Shine went running and left Blackwater choking on its dust to stay as the only unbeaten team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup.
Import Jaylen Johnson made his return after a one-game suspension but didn’t need to exert extra effort as the Elasto Painters locals took care of business in a wire-to-wire, 151-95, blowout of the Bossing for their fourth straight win Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
It was all Rain or Shine right from the opening tip, pouring 45 points in the first quarter and holding down Blackwater to just 15 to set the tone for a yawner of a game.
The Elasto Painters marked the highest output of the conference in a collective effort backed by an eye-popping 82 bench points.
Elasto Painters head coach Yeng Guiao let his young bunch of players loose to outrun the Bossing with a 38-9 fastbreak points advantage and break the game wide-open by as many as 58 points.
“That’s how we play. That’s our identity. We like to get out quickly in transition and try to find our rhythm in the open court. That’s how we generate our looks and out shots. So. Good thing we got out first couple of shots in and we built momentum early,” Guiao said.
Andrei Caracut led seven other Rain or Shine players in double figures, including rookies Jun Roque and debuting Deo Cuajao.
Caracut scored 18 of his 22 points in the first period to spark the Elasto Painters’ total domination.
“I’m just returning the trust given by coach Yeng. Luckily, I was able to make my first few shots. I got it going so I just kept on shooting,” said Caracut, who 9-of-13 from the field including a 4-of-6 clip in the three-point area.
Caracut converted all of his triples in the opening canto, missing only one of his eight field goal attempts in less than nine minutes of play.
Johnson, who served his ban last Friday due to his involvement in a fistfight against TNT’s Glenn Khobuntin, finished with 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Gian Mamuyac added 15 markers, 22nd overall pick Cuajao had 15 markers, David, who was the 24th overall selection in the last Draft filled the stats sheet with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and one steal while Adrian Nocum and Anton Asistio finished with 12 points each for Rain or Shine.
Santi Santillan joined the Elasto Painters’ scoring fray with 12 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Only Caelan Tiongson and Beau Belga failed to score in he 16 players fielded by Guiao.
Rain or Shine posted its biggest lead at 151-93 off a Nocum layup with just a minute left.
Blackwater had a bad shooting night on a 36-of-100 field goal clip and was terrible from the line, 18-of-36, for a 1-3 slate.
Rob Upshaw had 24 points and nine rebounds while RK Ilagan and Sedrick Barefield had 14 and 12 markers, respectively, for the Bossing.