SAME slow start, same result for Rain or Shine.
The Elasto Painters fell prey anew to the host country, suffering a 89-79 loss to Chinese Taipei-B on Sunday in the 42nd Jones Cup at the Heping Gymnasium in Taiwan.
READ: ROS bows to Chinese Taipei A in debut
The Philippine side again struggled with its shooting, scoring just 14 points in the first quarter, which ended with the Filipinos already down by 16 points.
It was basically a repeat of the same woes that marred Rain or Shine's 98-79 loss to Chinese Taipei-A in its opening match on Saturday.
Naturalized player Ange Kouame had 15 points to lead the way for Rain or Shine as he instigated an 11-0 second quarter run together with Mac Belo that cut the deficit to just 11 points.
But the home team, cheered on by a huge partisan crowd, ended the first half by outscoring the Elasto Painters, 12-8, for a 54-37 lead at halftime.
Coach Yeng Guiao said the team again failed to find its rhythm early on.
"It's actually a big improvement from (Saturday). but the same pattern, yung bad first quarter, bad start. Hindi natin makuha yung good start na hinahanap natin," he said.
The Elasto Painters will take on fellow winless United Arab Emirates on Monday.
American-Taiwanese Adam Hinton topscored for the home team with 17 points as Chinese Taipei-B forged a three-way tie on top along with Chinese Taipei-A and University of Irvine-California.
Chinese Taipei-A also improved to 2-0 following an 86-68 blowout of Japan's U-22 team, while University of Irvine routed UAE, 109-49.
Iran also made it to the win column behind a 69-63 beating of winless Qatar (0-2) in its debut game.
The scores
Chinese Taipei-B (89) - A. Hinton 17, Jian 15, Lin 13, Ma 13, R. Hinton 9, Ahmadou 8, Chen 3, Chiang 1, Sun 0, Lan 0, Chen 0, Wang 0.
Rain or Shine (79) - Kouame 15, Mamuyac 11, Evans 11, Demusis 10, Belo 9, Santillan 9, Nambatac 8, Caracut 4, Clarito 2, Norwood 0, Bekga 0, Ponferrada 0.
Quarterscores: 14-30; 37-54; 55-75; 79-89.
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