RAIN or Shine and Magnolia stretched their winning streaks against a pair of struggling teams on Wednesday night in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The Elasto Painters notched win No. 5 by taking care of business against Northport Batang Pier, 115-105, even as the Hotshots notched a third straight win at the expense of Blackwater Bossing, 81-77, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The fifth straight win by Rain or Shine tied the longest win streak this conference held by undefeated San Miguel for a 5-4 record and solo sixth place, while Magnolia kept solo third with its 4-2 slate.
Northport, which announced the ACL injury suffered by big man JM Calma before the game, lost for the third straight time and evened its record at 4-4. Blackwater also continued its slide with a fifth consecutive loss and a 3-5 standings.
Here are some takeaways from the April 17 games at NAS:
1) Beau Belga is aging like fine wine as he reset his career-high for the second time this conference with 28 points in the runaway win over Northport. He also finished with 13 boards or just one short of his career-high in rebounding. At 37 and playing in his 15th year in the league, the veteran center admitted taking a more active role on offense for the team since young rookie big men Keith Datu and Luis Villegas are both out with injuries.
2) A wrist injury won’t stop Mark Barroca from leading Magnolia back into contention for a playoff berth. The veteran guard was again at the forefront of yet another win by the Hotshots, finishing with 19 points, five rebounds, and three assists opposite the Bossing. Even after hurting his right wrist in the loss against Barangay Ginebra, Barroca, 37, hasn’t slowed down and continued carrying Magnolia on his shoulders even if it meant wearing kinesiology tape on his hurting arm every game.
3) Despite being on a skid, both Northport and Blackwater found a silver lining on their young roster which notched career-highs in their respective losses. Batang Pier rookie Zavier Lucero raised his level of the game a notch higher in the absence of JM Calma to produce a season-high 29 points, the second-highest output among rookies this season after the 31 of Rain or Shine’s Adrian Nocum. Gunner Allyn Bulanadi meanwhile, set his career-best of 26 points spiked by an 11-of-18 shooting from the field. Over at Blackwater, the freshman guard had a conference-high of 23 points for his second straight 20-point game after having 20 in a 105-86 loss to Ginebra the previous outing.
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