Veteran Jay Washington drained a pair of critical three-pointers down the stretch as Rain or Shine came through in the clutch to withstand a stiff challenge from Blackwater, taking a tough 95-88 victory to regain a share of tournament lead in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup yesterday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Shawn Taggart topscored for Rain or Shine with a solid double-double effort of 26 points and 12 rebounds.
The Elasto Painters banked on their experience in the final three minutes of play to get past their pesky foes.
With the game up for grabs down the stretch, Washington took it upon himself to lead his squad, connecting on back-to-back triples that practiacally won the game for Rain or Shine.
His first triple broke an 87-all deadlock and gave the Painters a 90-87 lead with 2:46 left.
After Blackwater import Greg Smith split his charities on the other end, Washington once again sank one from way deep, giving Rain or Shine a more comfortable 93-88 lead with 1:43 remaining and that eventually served as the marginal basket for the Painters.
Rain or Shine wrapped the game up with a decisive 8-1 spurt.
As a result, the Elasto Painters remained unbeaten and are now at tied for first with Meralco with similar 3-0 slates.
On the other hand, the Elite remained winless as it fell to the bottom at 0-3, tying NLEX.
Taggart got a lot of help from his backcourt pals as Jericho Cruz and Maverick Ahanmisi each contributed 12 off the bench while James Yap added 11 more.
The two teams went toe-to-toe from start to finish and it all boiled down to the waning minutes of the contest to decide the outcome.
Neither team took control the entire game as they engaged in a see-saw battle all throughout.