MANILA: There was no better time for Rain or Shine to pick off Purefoods than last night.
Depleted to begin with, the Elasto Painters pounced on the weary and seemingly undetermined Tender Juicy Giants to hammer out a 96-87 victory for first blood in their best-of-three quarterfinal series in the PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Jai Lewis threw his weight around inside the paint and came away with 26 points and 17 rebounds, leading the Painters to the first playoff victory in their PBA existence and into a position of winning their first series with another win on Wednesday.
"I think our shots just went in a lot tonight," coach Caloy Garcia told reporters with a smile. "Everyone stepped up, but we still need one more big game from our players."
Rain or Shine was listed as the underdog for the game, with super rookie point guard Solomon Mercado sitting out the contest because of a pulled hamstring.
But Garcia got contributions coming from almost everywhere and the Rain or Shine squad could have been mildly surprised that the team they faced displayed none of the electricity that they played with two nights ago.
Purefoods, which came into the match fresh off a classic double-overtime conquest of Talk 'N Text on Friday, hit just 14 points in the first period and 27 for the half to trail early and put itself in a very deep hole it was never able to climb out of.
The Elasto Painters built a 12-point lead after the first two periods and bloated this to as big as 22 in the third before holding off the Giants in a physical fourth quarter to win with a lot of conviction.
Rob Wainwright contributed 16 points built around a 4-of-8 clip from beyond trifectaville and Gabe Norwood added 10 for the Painters, who were swept in this stage of the playoffs by Sta. Lucia in the Philippine Cup when they first made it past the eliminations several months ago.
Mark Isip, a player utilized usually for defensive purposes, scored the last four of his eight points inside the final minute which helped the Painters put the game away after Purefoods had come to within six.
Despite getting 34 points from import Marquin Chandler, Purefoods still went down after its 1-2 local punch - Kerby Raymundo and James Yap - combined for 13 measly points, measly considering how heavily they contributed in that 126-123 thriller over the Tropang Texters.
After scoring 33 and 21, respectively on Friday, the duo were limited to just 13 points - all from the free throw line - and combined to miss all 13 field goal attempts they took.
Another depleted squad, Sta. Lucia, also moved within another win of advancing to the semifinals after downing Burger King, 93-84, in the first game. Anthony Johnson, slowed down by a recurring groin injury, returned in the second half to toss in 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and power the Realtors to the endgame they needed.
Winning in Game 2 on Wednesday would seal Sta. Lucia's march into the Final Four opposite San Miguel, while the winner of the Purefoods-Rain or Shine series will be pitted against defending champion Barangay Ginebra in best-of-seven series.
The Realtors won because their seasoned local roster stepped up when they needed, with Norman Gonzales, an enforcer, shooting 17 points to back up Johnson. Two others scored in twin digits for coach Boyet Fernandez, who used 11 people in all and failed to draw offensive contribution from only Dennis Daa.
"We won just one game," Fernandez said. "We have one more game to win. We're happy (with the win) tonight, yes, but we will go back to the drawing board to prepare again.
Sta. Lucia ended the first period with a 21-2 run to turn a 2-10 deficit into a 23-12 lead which they held until the final buzzer.
And they did this even with Jonhson sitting out majority of the second period after an old left groin injury started acting up again. He was taken back to the locker room for some stretching exercises in an effort to make the pain subside a bit.
He returned late in the third period and was obviously playing with a lot of pain. But he turned up the heat in the fourth and keyed a furious Sta. Lucia finish despite the continued absence of reigning MVP Kelly Williams.
Fernandez, though, said that should they make the semifinals, and with a two-week break after Wednesday looming, there is a big possibility that Williams will make it back to the roster.
