RAIN OR SHINE GETS ANOTHER MILESTONE IN WIN OVER PUREFOODS

Mercado, Wainwright lead Elasto Painters’ winning third straight
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Rain or Shine has paid its dues. Now it's time to reap the dividends.

Rookie Sol Mercado scored 19 points including the go-ahead three-point play and Rob Wainwright knocked his fourth trey of the night with 47 seconds remaining to secure the Elasto Painters' 82-76 victory over the Purefoods TJ Giants Saturday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Finishing 10th and last in its first four conferences of existence in the league, the Elasto Painters blew a 12-point third quarter advantage, trailed by four at the end of the period but regained their rhythm in the fourth, closing the quarter with an 8-0 run to stretch their winning streak to three games.

The consecutive wins mark the longest for the franchise since joining the league two years ago. Overall, ROS has won nine of 15 games to grab solo second place and assure its place in the playoffs – something it has not achieved in the previous two seasond.

"Hopefully, it would not stop here. There are more games to be won and we have an opportunity to make it to the top two. We just have to stay focused," said Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia, who emphasized that not one player was outstanding in Saturday's win.

"What we achieved today is a by-product of team effort. Everybody was determined to win and that made the difference," he said.

Wainwright, who went 4-of-10 from behind the arc, and Mark Isip also added 14 while JayR Reyes grabbed 15 rebounds.

The Elasto Painters, who have now tripled their total number of wins in last season’s tourney, appeared headed for a lopsided victory when they surged to a 51-39 advantage three minutes into the third quarter.

Then things went out of control and the Elasto Painters found them fighting for every possession.

After making their first four shots of the third, the Elasto Painters went 1-of-14 over a nine-minute stretch, enabling the gasping Giants to recover and build a 61-57 lead going into the last 12 minutes.

But the Elasto Painters, showing flashes of their resiliency and grim determination, didn't back off.

They opened the fourth with an 8-2 run to regain the lead before the count deadlocked on three occasions, the last at 74-74 on a basket by James Yap with under two minutes left.

Another basket by James Yap shoved Purefoods ahead, 76-74, but the Giants didn't score again the rest of the way.

Purefoods outrebounded Rain or Shine, 63-53, but the Giants gave up 21 points on 18 turnovers.

ROS turned the ball over 22 times but made up for it by making 11-of-40 shots from the 3-point range.

James Yap led all scorers with 32 points, Kerby Raymundo added 17 and Rico Villanueva grabbed 14 rebounds for Purefoods which fell to a 7-8 (win-loss) record. (DBC)

The scores:

Rain or Shine 82 - Mercado 19, Isip 14, Wainwright 14, Salangsang 8, Arana 7, Tang 6, Ibanes 6, Reyes 5, Norwood 3, Dulay 0, Andaya 0.

Purefoods 76 - Yap J. 32, Raymundo 17, Aban 8, Villanueva 6, Yap R. 5, Salvador 4, Belga 2, Lanete 2, Alonzo 0, Bugia 0, Alvarez 0, Robinson 0.

Quarterscores: 19-15, 40-33, 57-61, 82-76.