For a very rare moment, Yeng Guiao, the very outspoken, mercurial Rain or Shine coach, was at a loss for words.
Rain or Shine rallied from 16 points down at the start of the fourth period last night to score an 80-79 win over San Mig Coffee in the PBA Philippine Cup, and Guiao never got to explain how it happened.
“Don’t ask me how,” Guiao shot back when reporters asked how Rain or Shine’s fourth win in five games came about, considering that most everyone inside the Araneta Coliseum had conceded the win to the Mixers.
“I don’t understand it. We played really ugly basketball but still won the game,” Guiao added. “It’s beyond analysis, beyond assessment. We just tried to cut the lead possession for possession, not knowing we can win it in the end.
“It would definitely rank as one of my weirdest wins, but we’ll take it,” he continued. “We will enjoy the win and then (on Thursday) review the game tape and see how we pulled this one off.” Jeff Chan scored 22 points, including two four-point plays, with the last that came off a Wesley Gonzales foul knotting the game at 77 going into the final 2:29.
Beau Belga made another three-pointer in the next Rain or Shine possession, shoving the Elasto Painters to an 80-77 lead to stay as the Mixers, whom the Painters conquered in the Governors’ Cup Finals, missed James Yap in the stretch.
Yap, the former two-time MVP, was tossed out with 2:34 left and the game hanging in the balance, as he was whistled for a Flagrant Foul Penalty 1 call on a driving Jireh Ibanes, whom he hit in the face while trying to stop a layup.
Coupled with a technical foul for a second motion earlier in the game, Yap was thrown out, leaving the Mixers one take-charge guy short.
San Mig had a 77-69 lead with 4:03 left after a Peter June Simon jumpshot, but the Mixers would only score two more points after that, courtesy of Simon, with 1:28 left that eventually rounded out scoring.
The Mixers had possession with 11.4 seconds remaining, but Simon missed a running jumper and had to foul JR Quinahan with 5.4 seconds left.
Quinahan, meanwhile, muffed both free throws, and with no timeouts remaining for San Mig, Mark Barocca ran the length of the floor and dished out a pass to Jonas Villanueva, who couldn’t convert on a tight short jumper as time expired.
It was the second straight loss in four games for the Mixers, who got 28 points from Yap and 17 from Simon. San Mig also played without the injured Marc Pingris.
The Rain or Shine win completely drowned a similar high-wire victory by Talk ‘N Text over Barako Bull earlier.
Jason Castro hit a three-pointer with 1:27 left to key a 79-76 decision of the Energy as the defending champion Tropang Texters remained unbeaten and kept a firm grip of the lead at 5-0.
Larry Fonacier added 13 points for the Texters, whom coach Norman Black described as still out of synch offensively.
Enrico Villanueva paced the Energy with 16 points, with his short stab with four minutes to go forging a tie at 76 only for Barako Bull to bungle several opportunities after that and not score again.
Barako Bull dropped to 2-3.