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Petron holds off Rain or Shine

Good thing, Petron Blaze managed to build a big lead early on.

Thanks to Arwind Santos’ badly-needed putback, the defending champions Boosters avoided an endgame meltdown and hung on to a nail-biting 90-88 victory over stubborn Rain or Shine Friday night as the semifinals action got going in the PBA Governors Cup at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo City.

After a masterful outing in the first 24 minutes where it led by as many as 23 points, Petron Blaze lost steam in the face of a sizzling late-game onslaught from Rain or Shine before Santos saved the Boosters with the clinching basket that gave his team their sixth win in 10 games in the carry-over semis format.

Bristling with confidence after topping the single-round eliminations, the Elasto Painters apparently started slow then sizzled in the second half, only to come up short in the crunch and eventually absorbed their second setback in 10 outings.

The lanky 6-foot-5 Santos groped for form early but still finished with 12 points, capped by a timely point-blank conversion with seven seconds left that eased the Boosters to a 90-86 lead with just seven seconds left.

“Thank God dahil sa’kin napunta yung bola,” beamed Santos, who found himself unmolested grabbing the offensive rebound at the weakside after southpaw Alex Cabagnot’s daring lay-up went wide. Santos also had four boards and three assists.

“The important thing is hindi nawala ‘yung energy namin. We showed that on our rebounding. We dominated them pagdating sa rebounds,” noted Petron Blaze coach Ato Agustin, whose wards also enjoyed a big 58-37 edge in crashing the boards.

Joseph Yeo fired 12 of his 14 points in the first quarter while debuting import Marcus Faison, filling up the void left by the injured Eddie Basden, collected 20 markers, including three treys and nine boards for the Boosters.

Jamelle Cornley paced Rain or Shine with a game-high 36 points, 13 coming during their third quarter, on top of 10 boards and four dimes. Paul Lee led all RoS locals with 15 points while Gabe Norwood and Jeff Chan had 10 apiece.

Courtesy of Lee’s three and Beau Belga’s lay-up, the E-Painters scored the first five points of the game, but the Boosters, with Yeo waxing hot, unloaded 15 unanswered points for an early 15-5 spread that extended to a 53-30 cushion off Faison’s three-point conversion in the second quarter.

Behind Cornley’s relentless inside attack, the E-Painters gallantly clawed their way back in the third canto, outscoring the Boosters 23-16 to inch within 62-72 heading into the final 12 minutes.
After Faison completed his charities for an 88-80 lead, the E-Painters uncorked six straight points, capped by Norwood’s lay-up off Cornley’s dime that moved them to within two with just 30 seconds left.

Pitted against Lee, Cabagnot wisely milked the clock before driving to the lane that set up Santos’ heroics. Cornley scored a corner jumper in the ensuing play that pegged the final count.

Earlier, Barangay Ginebra banked on a scorching start in romping to an 89-76 victory over Meralco.
Veteran forward Kerby Raymundo came up with a double-double outing of 16 points and 13 rebounds while import Cedric Bozeman tallied 13 markers and Allein Maliksi 12 for the fast-starting Gin Kings, who improved their record to 6-4 overall.

Mario west finished with 22 points while Asi Taulava had 17 for the Bolts, who slipped to 4-6 and now need to sweep their remaining four games to gain a shot for a finals berth.
 
The scores:
 
First Game
 
Ginebra 89 – Raymundo 16, Bozeman 13, Maliksi 12, Caguioa 10, Cortez 8, W. Wilson 6, Menk 6, Ababou 5, Villanueva 5, Helterbrand 5, Maierhofer 2, Hatfield 1, Mamaril 0.
 
Meralco 76 – West 22, Taulava 17, Mercado 12, Cardona 12, Hugnatan 9, Ross 2, Artadi 2, Bulawan 0, Ballesteros 0, Daa 0, Reyes 0, Macapagal 0.
Quarterscores: 25-10, 43-30, 73-50, 89-76
 
Second Game
 
PETRON 90 - Faison 20, Yeo 14, Santos 12, Washington 11, Cabagnot 9, Lutz 7, Reyes 6, Miranda 6, Pena 5, Baclao 0, Hontiveros 0.
 
RAIN OR SHINE 88 - Cornley 36, Lee 15, Norwood 10, Chan 10, Cruz 7, Belga 6, Matias 2, Tang 2, Arana 0, Quinahan 0, Buenafe 0, Ibanes 0.
Quarterscores: 29-24, 56-39, 72-62, 90-88