Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters racked up their fifth straight win after defeating KIA Carnival, 94-90, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup on Wednesday evening at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Wendell McKines had a huge double-double output of 24 points and 20 rebounds for Rain or Shine, who is now tied with GlobalPort with a 6-4 win-loss card.
Paul Lee was the only other Elasto Painter who finished in double figures with 20 markers.
KIA was only down by one, 80-79, after a dunk from Hamady N’Diaye at the 6:40 mark of the fourth period. Rain or Shine responded with a three-point play and two free throws from McKines to push the lead up to six, with 4:46 remaining.
Three straight points from N’Diaye and a pair of freebies from Buensuceso pulled the Carnival closer, 85-84, but a split from Jeff Chan and two more free throws from Lee gave Rain or Shine an 88-84 cushion, 2:04 left.
Both teams came up empty in the next few possessions but N’Diaye made two free throws with 30.8 seconds left on the game clock to cut the margin to two, 88-86.
Lee was fouled and munched up a pair from the stripe but N’Diaye answered with a dunk on the other end to trim the deficit to a single basket, 90-88, 11.7 ticks to go.
Another bucket from N’Diaye pulled KIA within two, 6 seconds left, but Lee made two more free throws to secure the win for the Elasto Painters.
KIA, which slid down to 4-5 in the team standings, was paced by N’Diaye who put up 31 points and 21 boards.
