Rain Or Shine withstand San Miguel's late surge to post first PBA bubble win

Rain Or Shine nearly wasted their first quarter storm but weathered the late charge by San Miguel to get their first win in the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup inside the bubble Tueday at the AUF Arena in Angeles, Pampanga.

The Elasto Painters found an unusual duo of Javee Mocon and Kris Rosales that gave them the biggest and most efficient contributions in upsetting the reigning five-time kings of the All-Filipino for their opening win of the campaign.

Mocon fired 12 of his game-high 25 points on a 7/9 clip from the field, while the point guard hit half of his field goals to finish with 15 to lead coach Caloy Garcia's second unit, which outscored SMB 34-29 in the process.

Marcio Lassiter hit five triples en route to a 20-point output but came up short to the end game as the Beermen fell to 1-1 after winning their opener last March.

Rain Or Shile waxed hot after the opening tip by starting the contest with 16 consecutive points, and despite San Miguel inched its way back to nab its lone taste of the lead in the second, the former held their nerve to get a five-point lead at the break.

At the restart, the Painters found their second wind to return to double-digit leads, but their 13-point lead at the end of the third was threatened late in the fourth by Leo Austria's wards, which came to within a point on Terrence Romeo's top of the key triple.

But in the very next possession Rey Nambatac bailed ROS out with an off-balanced trey at the buzzer, as Mocon hit two insurance free throws to seal the contest.

The scores: 

Rain Or Shine 87 -- Mocon 25, Rosales 15, Belga 12, Borboran 9, Ponferada 7, Onwubere 6, Nambatac 4, Torres 4, Norwood 3, Doliguez 2, Wong 0, Yap 0

San Miguel 83 -- Lassiter 20, Cabagnot 18, Tautuaa 17, Romeo 11, Gamalinda 5, Ross 4, Mamaril 3, Santos 2, Escoto 2, Pessumal 1, Zamar 0, De Guzman 0

Quarter scores: 25-20, 46-41, 67-54, 87-83

PHOTO: PBA