RoS beats Red Bull for the first time; grabs early lead

THE future may not be so distant for Rain or Shine, as most are prone to think.

Not with its rookies proving they could deliver the goods sooner than expected. And with their team veterans chipping in their ample share, the Elasto Painters hurdled erstwhile perennial nemesis Red Bull, 96-90, Friday in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Tyrone Tang helped Rain or Shine stave off Red Bull's initial threat before Gabe Norwood and Solomon Mercado each hit a triple at crunch-time to finally quash the danger and prop the Elasto Painters over a Barakos team they have not beaten before.

More important, Rain or Shine notched a fitting follow-up to its 120-102 win over Air21 last Sunday and put the usual tail-ender in a very unfamiliar position of co-leader with idle Talk ‘N Text.

“For our rookies to show such composure in the last quarter, the way they played, is really something. Hats off talaga ako sa kanila.” said winning head coach Caloy Garcia, whose charges erected as much as a 51-27 lead, but found themselves with a big fight in their hands in the crucial fourth quarter.

“We almost had our let-down, but our rookies bailed us out, gave us this morale-boosting win,” added Garcia whose team is in on top of the team standings for the first time in franchise history.

Ryan Arana wound up with a team-high 15 points with rookie Tang, Jay-R Reyes and veteran Rob Wainwright chipping in 13 points each.

But it was Mercado and Norwood who shone the most. Both finished with 11 points with the latter, this year’s top overall Draft pick, adding a team-high 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

They also came up with the back-breaking triples that jacked Rain or Shine's lead to 93-86 that proved safe enough going into the last 1:20 of play.

Aside from losing to the Asian Coatings franchise for the first time, Red Bull also fell to a 0-2 win-loss start for the first time since the 2004-05 edition of the tournament, when it wound up dead-last.

The Barakos suffered an initial 73-77 loss to Purefoods last Wednesday when they blew a 16-point third quarter lead, but the circumstances were different Sunday as the Photokina franchise rallied back from a 27-51 second quarter deficit.

By going 5-of-5 from beyond the arc, Celino Cruz scored all of his team-high 17 points in the fourth, almost single-handedly leading the Barakos back to within 74-76.

Tang, a second round pick and 12th overall in this year’s Draft, hit back-to-back triples to make it a safer 85-79 count, but Cruz's last trey moved the Barakos within 84-87 before the left-handed playmaker was shut down.

Before leaving the game for good due to a suspected sprain with 5:15 left in the third period, Wainwright scored 13 points in the second canto anchored on a perfect 5-of-5 field shooting, including three from trifecta land.

His last triple gave Rain or Shine its 51-27 spread before Red Bull trimmed it to 53-32 at the half and 70-55 going into the fourth. (NCo)

The scores:

Rain or Shine 96 - Arana 15, Tang 13, Reyes 13, Wainwright 13, Norwood 11, Mercado 11, Salangsang 8, Laure 6, Isip 4, Ibanes 2.

Red Bull 90 - Cruz 17, Baguio 15, Rodriguez 14, Duncil 12, Hubalde 12, Espinas 11, Chan 3, Najorda 2, Sharma 2, Alvarez 2, Hrabak 0.

Quarterscores: 21-14, 53-32, 70-59, 96-90.