Painters wear down Beermen, tie series

MANILA, Philippines – Rain or Shine redeemed itself from a nightmarish Game One defeat, again establishing a huge lead early and holding on to the end this time in smothering San Miguel Beer, 105-97, in Game Two of their Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

Jeff Chan, ROS’ leading scorer held scoreless in their 105-109 loss Wednesday, spearheaded their turnaround, which prevented the Beermen from getting a key two-game-to-nil series lead.

“We couldn’t afford to make the same mistake again. Had they got the 2-0 lead, the series is all over. You can’t come back from that hole against a team like San Miguel,” said ROS coach Yeng Guiao.

“It’s almost the same story (as Game One). Fortunately, we got a different ending,” Guiao also said. “Everybody made a contribution on offense and defense. It’s important for us to keep the pace fast to our liking.”

Guiao shuffled 11 men with almost equal minutes in an effort to wear down SMB’s short rotation.

“Junmar (Fajardo) is almost unstoppable. We just have to keep him working. We know he will get his points, but we have to make his life a little difficult. Somehow, it worked as he missed his free throws at endgame,” said Guiao of their ploy.

Chan, with 16 points, led Rain or Shine’s balanced output that offset Fajardo’s monstrous 38 points and 17 rebounds.

With two big treys coming off the bench in the last three minutes, Chan personally held off the Beermen’s endgame fightback.

Hastening San Miguel’s downfall were Fajardo’s five straight free throw misses.

“The longer the series goes, I think the better it is for us. We’ll give Junmar hell. If it goes Game Seven, baka lantang gulay na siya,” said Guiao.

Rookie Don Trollano, JR Quiñahan, Raymond Almazan, Paul Lee and Gabe Norwood also produced double-digit outputs while Maverick Ahanmisi, Jericho Cruz and Beau Belga added at least seven each as the E-Painters dominated the Beermen almost throughout, leading by as many as 25 at 59-34.

 “It just gives us confidence that we can lead by 20 in two games. The fact that you can do that against a strong team like San Miguel gives us confidence that we have a chance in this series.

In a virtual repeat of the opening half of Game One, the E-Painters stormed off the starting block and sat on a comfortable lead, 49-34, at the half.

Each ROS player provided a push as the E-Painters negated Fajardo’s 18 points and nine rebounds in the first half.

The rest of the Beermen were held to 16 points on a woeful 5-of-17 field-goal clip.

After splitting their first two games, Alaska Milk and Globalport go at each other again tonight in what could be a tougher, more physical showdown for the vital win in what is now a best-of-five series.

The  Aces and the Batang Pier, spared from suspension after their tumultuous game Wednesday,  will come out in full force in Game Three of their semifinal series duel at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

Game time is at 7 p.m.

The scores:

RAIN OR SHINE 105 – Chan 16, Trollano 13, Quiñahan 12, Lee 11, Almazan 10, Norwood 10, Ahanmisi 9, Cruz 8, Belga 7, Ponferada 6, Tiu 3. 

SAN MIGUEL 97 – Fajardo 38, Cabagnot 24, Lassiter 13, Santos 10, Tubid 7, Lutz 3, Espinas 2, Araña 0, De Ocampo 0, Heruela 0, Reyes 0, Ross 0, Omolon 0.

Quarterscores: 31-15, 49-34, 79-65, 105-97