Playing without its premier big men, Rain or Shine collectively worked hard in crashing the boards and that generated a much energetic performance in their 113-96 triumph over NorthPort in the PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Elasto Painters continued to miss Beau Belga, their starting center, who was sidelined by vertigo and will not see action at least in the next two weeks. Also not playing was Keith Datu, who was sidelined indefinitely due to a calf injury while another big man, Luis Villegas is still on his way to recovery from a knee injury.
Still, Rain or Shine’s mentality on working collectively in getting those rebounds, particularly a more conscious effort on grabbing offensive putbacks, proved to be the deciding factor in making it to the win column of this season-ending tournament.
Rain or Shine grabbed 66 rebounds, 12 more than its counterpart. The Elasto Painters also worked double time in picking up those offensive rebounds, pulling down 27 compared to only 15 for the Batang Pier.
“We knew we are a small team,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao. “We’ve got 27 offensive rebounds. I think it’s the first time that we got that much number of offensive rebounds. It’s a testament to the hard work. Alam namin maliit kami. We didn’t have Beau, wala si Keith and of course, si Luis wala pa rin. Yung mga naiwan sa amin mga 4s and they did a good job playing the big men’s role today.”
Leonard Santillan had a double-double 17 points and 10 boards, while old reliable Gabe Norwood, the team’s playing assistant coach, also grabbed 10 rebounds.
Even guard Adrian Nocum had to work extra hard getting his share of caroms, grabbing eight to go along with 10 points.
Offensively, Rain or Shine displayed its usual balance firepower as seven players produced nine points or more led by Gian Mamuyac, who started like a house on fire and sparked the team’s early breakaway.
Sidelined for the most part of last conference, Mamuyac hit 13 of his 22 points in the first quarter as the Elasto Painters set the tone for the early breakaway.
Caelan Tiongson, who didn’t back down playing extra physical against Sydney Onwubere, came away with 15 markers, the same output produced by Andrei Caracut, while Norwood and Asistio each tallied nine markers for the Elasto Painters, who bounced back strong after absorbing their first game of the conference against NLEX.
But Rain or Shine also got a big break when Arvin Tolentino, the Best Player of the Conference of the Commissioner’s Cup, wasn’t able to see action due to an injury.
“Malaking bagay na wala si Arvin. We prepared against him, but we got a lucky break with him not being able to play. We schemed him and we felt na malaking bagay na hindi siya talaga naglaro,” added Guiao.
Without its primary offensive option, NorthPort had to scramble finding somebody to fill the huge void left by the former Gilas Pilipinas player.
