Games Today
(Ynares Center Montalban)
5 p.m. – Converge vs Terrafirma
7:30 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs Macau
By REYNALD MAGALLON
It’s Rain or Shine’s turn to test the mettle of guest team Macau when they lock horns in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center in Montalban on Saturday, March 14.
After suffering from a huge fourth quarter collapse in their debut, the Black Knights are surely raring to bounce back but standing in front of them are the perennial semis contenders, the Elasto Painters.
Tip-off of the clash is at 7:30 p.m. with the battle between opening day winners Converge and Terrafirma serving as a fitting appetizer in the curtain raiser at 5 p.m.
Fresh off the All-Star weekend where Rain or Shine had four players, Adrian Nocum, Gian Mamuyac, Leonard Santillan and Caelan Tiongson are expected to spearhead the Elasto Painters’ run-and-gun offense.
Looking like a tailor-fit to their system, import Jaylen Johnson should give ROS a huge lift and help the team bounce back from its quarterfinals exit last conference following four consecutive tournaments of reaching the semis.
“Yung team naman namin we know what it takes na. We know how hard it is to get into the semis. Alam na namin kung gaano kahirap. Kung ano kailangan namin pagdaanan, hopefully marating namin uli iyon and sana malagpasan namin,” said ROS captain Mamuyac.
“Pero one game at a time. One step at a time,” he added.
And the first step to that is to take down the Black Knights, who looked poised in pulling the rug from under Converge if not for a 4-14 collapse in the final five minutes of the contest.
Macau was actually in control behind the hot-shooting of Jenning Leung and Damian Chongqui.
Leung, a Chinese-Canadian, who grew up in Laguna, looked comfortable in the PBA brand of play, firing 22 points on two triples and two fours while Chongqui finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Phoenix Shackelford should also be a marked man after scoring 20 while import Tony Mitchell had a strong PBA return with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
