RAIN or Shine banked on Jhonard Clarito’s fiery start and sizzling shooting from three-point range to dominate Magnolia, 101-92, and claim the first twice-to-beat bonus in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals early Tuesday morning (Manila time) in Bahrain.
Clarito finished with a game-high 21 points, 16 of them came in the first half, before the Elasto Painters sustained his effort by bombing the Hotshots from the outside behind Gian Mamuyac, Stanley Pringle, and Caelan Tiongson to preserve their early lead and notched the win at the Khalifa City Sports Stadium.
The Elasto Painters’ third straight win improved their record to 8-2 overall, regained the solo lead, and booked a Top 4 finish heading to the quarterfinals.
Tiongson added 14 and Mamuyac had the same output including a five-point swing inside the final two minutes as the Elasto Painters shook off a last-minute rally put up by the Hotshots, who lost guards Jerom Lastimosa and Paul Lee to injuries in the first half.
READ: Magnolia's injury woes continue with Paul Lee's hamstring injury
In all, Rain or Shine hit 17-of-32 from three-point distance for a high 53 percent.
Clarito, who also had 11 rebounds for a double-double, was a perfect 2-of-2 from distance, Mamuyac 2-of-3, Tiongson shot 4-of-7, Leonard Santillan and Kris Porter 2-of-3 each, and veteran Stanley Pringle 3-of-5 to finish with nine points in his best game so far as a starter for coach Yeng Guiao.
“So proud of this team. But as I told them, we came here not for a vacation, but to win and get a twice-to-beat advantage,” said Mamuyac after the game.
The loss pulled down Magnolia to 6-4 in a four-way logjam at fourth place with Converge, NLEX, and streaking Meralco.
With both Lee and Lastimosa failing to return to the game, Mark Barroca carried the fight for Magnolia with 14 points and tried to rally the team back from a 58-74 deficit.
The Hotshots managed to bring the deficit to five, but Tiongson and Mamuyac answered with a late burst to seal the deal for the Elasto Painters.
Peter Alfaro added 13, Javi Gomez De Liano with 12 and 10 each by Ian Sangalang and Rome Dela Rosa for Magnolia, which got nine points and 10 rebounds from big man Zavier Lucero.
The scores
Rain or Shine 101 – Clarito 21, Mamuyac 14, Tiongson 14, Nocum 13, Pringle 9, Santillan 8, Porter 8, Caracut 4, Norwood 4, Malonzo 3, Belga 3, Ildefonso 0, Pangilinan-Lemetti 0.
Magnolia 92 – Barroca 14, Alfaro 13, De Liano 12, Dela Rosa 10, Sangalang 10, Lucero 9, Lee 8, Koon 6, Verano 4, Laput 3, Lastimosa 3, Gomez 0.
Quarters: 27-24; 53-47; 81-69; 101-92.
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