Rain or Shine waxed hot from the three-point zone in a massive third quarter storm to complete a 124-120 come-from-behind win against Converge and take Game 1 of their PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup best-of-five quarterfinal series on Tuesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
The Elasto Painters went 8-of-11 from three-point country in a huge 42-point, third quarter assault to turn the tables against the FiberXers, who led by 16 points in the first half.
Rookie Vincent Cuajao and Caelan Tiongson accounted for five of the team’s eight triples in that critical third quarter scoring blitz, while import Aaron Fuller came alive in the second half after a quiet nine-point output in the first two quarters.
Fuller would go on to finish with a game-high 33 points, along with 14 rebounds as he played beautiful music with shift guard Adrian Nocum who had 26 points, highlighted by a perfect 4-of-4 from rainbow territory.
The former Mapua guard also added five rebounds and nine assists to negate his eight turnovers in the game.
Tiongso added 17, while Cuajao finished with 15 for the Elasto Painters, whose vast playoff experience came in handy against the younger Converge five.
Cameron Clark led Converge with 28 points and eight rebounds, but his effort went for naught this time as the team saw its five-game winning streak come to an end.
Justin Arana added 21, Calvin Abueva had 16, while Juan Gomez De Liano and Alec Stockton 13 and 12, respectively.
Sophomore big man Justine Baltazar, who averages a near double-double of 15.0 points, 9.2 rebounds in the elimination round, was held down to just three points and three boards by the Rain or Shine defense.
