By REYNALD MAGALLON
Rain or Shine had the chance to win a game by taking four free throws in the past. Felix Lemetti nailed all of it but lost on a jumper from June Mar Fajardo in an epic ending.
The Elasto Painters had the same chance once again on Sunday, Oct. 26. and Anton Asistio made sure of a different ending this time.
The gutsy playmaker showed nerves of steel and nailed four crucial free throws with 1.7 seconds left as ROS escaped past Titan Ultra, 112-111, to make it three in a row in the PBA Season 49 Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
With the Giant Risers up by three, 111-108 with 4.3 ticks remaining, the Elasto Painters executed a perfect inbound play that saw the ball go into the hands of Asistio who immediately attempted for the four-point shot.
Joshua Munzon, however, in an effort to challenge the shot ended up fouling Asistio, sending him to the foul line with four tries.
He coolly sank all four of those before they bothered Calvin Abueva enough to miss Titan Ultra’s last attempt at the buzzer.
Asistio finished with 11 points including the 4-of-4 clip from the charity stripe – a stark contrast to ROS’ 21-of-35 clip as a team – to also preserve the solid showing from Santi Santillan and Adrian Nocum.
Nocum had 24 points, eight rebounds and four assists before fouling out of the contest in the last minute while Santillan fired 13 points in the third frame to finish with 21 points laced with nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, NLEX fended off a big fightback from Meralco, 89-85, to forge a five-team deadlock at the top of the standings.
The Road Warriors unloaded a pivotal 15-0 run in the fourth quarter to create some breathing space that proved to be enough to cushion a last-ditch run from the Bolts to make it two straight wins.
NLEX joined TNT, Magnolia, Rain or Shine and Converge with similar 3-1 records.
JB Bahio led the assault for NLEX with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks while Robert Bolick came two rebounds shy of triple-double with his 11 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Kevin Alas had 12 points while Jonnel Policarpio and Robbie Herndon chipped in 10 apiece.
Down by four, 68-72, NLEX went on with the huge run to erect an 83-72 advantage. The Bolts, however, refused to go down without a fight as CJ Cansino pulled Meralco within two, 87-85, with 13 seconds left.
The Road Warriors then held on with their defense in the waning seconds before Bolick nailed two crucial free throws to keep the Bolts at bay.
Over in Dubai, Kris Rosales came through for San Miguel in the waning minutes as the Beermen repelled the Barangay Ginebra Kings, 83-81 first out-of-the-country game of the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup at the Coca-Cola Arena.
The backup point guard scored five of the Beermen’s last eight points – none bigger than the booming triple that helped SMB quell the patented Kings comeback in the contest.
June Mar Fajardo threw his weight around and notched a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds laced with four blocks for SMB which took control for the most part of the contest.
That, however, did not come without a scare as the Kings remained within shouting distance with a triple from Scottie Thompson and a dunk from Japeth Aguilar even making it just a two-point deficit, 83-81 in the last 10 seconds.
Ginebra actually had the last say in the ball game after Troy Rosario stole the ball from SMB but Thompson missed on the potential game-winning trey at the buzzer.
With the win, SMB improved to a 2-2 record while handing Ginebra its third loss in four games.
Over in Antipolo,
