RAIN or Shine showed its game is not founded solely on its veterans.
Jhonard Clarito proved that by leading the Elasto Painters to a 121-113 victory over the TNT Tropang Giga Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum that forced a deciding game in their PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals duel.
Clarito recorded a career-high 29 points and played a key role in Rain or Shine’s fiery 12-2 finishing kick that ultimately led to the win that negated TNT’s 116-99 blowout victory in the opener of the best-of-three matchup just last Friday.
In that windup, Clarito capped a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc, issued an assist and also had two rebounds with the offensive one leading to an Andrei Caracut 3 that all but settled the issue, 121-113, only 26 seconds left.
Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao is simply pleased with the way his players refused to wilt under pressure like in the opener to force the sudden-death game on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
“Pinakamaganda siguro ‘yung nakabalik kami,” said Guiao, referring to a 109-111 deficit his team faced going to the final 2:49 of the game after TNT went on a 14-3 surge.
“They led us a couple of times, pero I think ang importante is learning to get back pagka nagkakaroon ng run ‘yung kabilang team,” added Guiao.
Caracut wound up with 21 points, while Santi Santillan and Adrian Nocum each came off the bench to finish with 20 points. Gian Mamuyac chipped in 12 points, with the bulk of those helping keep Rain or Shine in striking distance of TNT in the early goings.
Roger Pogoy led TNT with 28 points, but Calvin Oftana was held to only 11 points, 21 below his production in Game 1. Jayson Castro, Glenn Khobuntin, Kim Aurin and Kelly Williams tried to pick up the slack with at least 11 points each.
But there was to be no Oftana leading a fourth quarter breakaway by the Tropa this time, with their bid dampened by the early right leg injury to Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser and the ejection of Jewel Ponferrada at about the halfway point of the third period.
“May mga situations na sinuwerte kami. Pero ang importante para sa akin, ‘yung team namin, batang team, natututo nang lumaban sa endgame,” noted Guiao.
“Kasi ‘yung mga batang team iyun ang problema. Maybe for three, three-and-a-half quarters, nakakasabay sila, which is nangyari sa amin nuong last game namin. Pero pagdating ng fourth bumigay na.”
The shoe was surely on the other foot this time. TNT seemed ready to steal the win after Williams’ follow-up slam off an Oftana miss gave it its last taste of the lead, 111-109.
But, following Santillan’s layup that knotted the count for the 11th and last time at 111-all, the Tropa went 1-of-4 and committed a turnover the rest of the way. (NC)
The Scores:
RAIN OR SHINE 121 – Clarito 29, Caracut 21, Nocum 20, Santillan 20, Mamuyac 12, Belga 6, Datu 6, Demusis 3, Norwood 2, Ildefonso 2, Asistio 0, Borboran 0.
TNT 113 – Pogoy 28, Castro 17, Aurin 15, Oftana 11, K.Williams 11, Montalbo 5, B.Ganuelas-Rosser 5, Ponferrada 4, Varilla 4, Heruela 0, Galinato 0.
QUARTERS: 25-31, 62-64, 95-95, 121-113.
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