Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — San Miguel Beer caught fire from downtown, but the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters played with much gusto to hammer out a come-from-behind 113-110 victory in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup semifinals Saturday (July 4) at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
Rain or Shine survived a torrid shooting night for Marcio Lassiter, who shot 10 three-pointers on his way to a career-high 31 points.
Lassiter dropped four three-pointers in the first six minutes of the third period to give the Beermen a comfortable 20-point cushion, 76-56.
As if that wasn’t enough, the San Miguel gunner fired four more to open the final frame.
“We thought it was a lost game,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
He added, “We just tried to finetune our defense which we will use for next game.”
But that actually worked wonders for the Elasto Painters, complemented by import Wendell Mckines’ Herculean efforts down the stretch.
Slowly, Rain or Shine cut the Beermen down to size behind McKines and tied the game at 110-all with a Gabe Norwood jumper with 25.1 ticks to go.
In the ensuing possession, McKines intercepted a lousy pass by Lassiter to import Arizona Reid which led to the game-winning triple by Jeff Chan in transition.
Rain or Shine evened the best-of-five series to one game apiece thanks in large part to McKines’ 53-point and 17-rebound effort.
Guiao paid homage to his prized reinforcement’s impeccable performance.
“I want to pay tribute to Wendell and his big heart,” said Guiao.
