RAIN or Shine went back to what worked for it so well in the immediate past and got rewarded with a slide-stopping 83-77 victory over Terrafirma Sunday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Rey Nambatac snapped out of his shooting slump with a team-high 17 points, but it was Gabe Norwood waxing hot in the fourth quarter that sustained the Elasto Painters' momentum and completed their rise from an early 16-point deficit.
"In that fourth quarter, we simplified things," said RoS coach Chris Gavina after his team cut short a two-game slide and improved to an even 3-3 overall.
"We let our guards create more... and we were just reacting more to what the defense was giving us and finding the open man, who was usually Gabe."
Norwood maintained it was their defense that fired up their offense. "Just our energy. I think we picked it up on the defensive end," said the seven-time All-Defensive Team member.
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"Terrafirma came out and executed everything they wanted to and they were making us pay. But we finally made stops and usually our defense leads to offense and that's exactly what happened in the fourth quarter," added the 36-year-old.
"We just have to be consistent in putting the ball in the basket and I think we'll be fine from there."
Indeed, Norwood made Terrafirma pay dearly for usually leaving him open by scoring eight of his 15 points in the final canto, including two triples, that fueled a decisive 18-2 run and gave RoS the lead for good 79-67.
The E-Painters' defense also held solid as the Dyip were held scoreless during that six-minute span and just five field goals in all in the last 12 minutes of play.
The loss dropped Terrafirma, which played minus the injured Joshua Munzon and Rashawn McCarthy, to its fourth loss in as many games as it joined fellow winless Blackwater at the bottom of the 12-team field.
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Juami Tiongson, who led all scorers with 20 points, and JP Calvo were mainly instrumental in giving the Dyip as much as a 41-26 lead. But they could not sustain that with some spotty shooting of their own, enabling the E-Painters to hang around before that fourth quarter explosion. (NC)
