Painters win as coach, star player patch things up

The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters put behind them a two-game losing streak and a slight misunderstanding between their coach and star player to get back on track in the PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night. Jay-R Reyes poured in 16 of his 20 points in the opening half, while Sol Mercado set aside his verbal tussle with coach Caloy Garcia to score a team-high 21 points as the Elasto Painters avoided the upset ax with a 98-86 rout of Barako Bull at the Araneta Coliseum. Rain or Shine improved to 3-4, three nights after suffering a disappointing 90-73 defeat at the hands of Barangay Ginebra. An aftermath of that 17-point blowout had Garcia and Mercado exchanging barbs inside the Elasto Painters’ dugout. But all seems well again for the team after Sunday’s morale-boosting win. “When you lose a game against a team like Ginebra, you feel bad and you say some bad things," Garcia admitted. “Me and Sol had a meeting with our bosses. Kung ano ang nangyari, wala na ‘yun. This is the best game we played since the Talk ‘N Text game. Everything now for me is healthy. He (Mercado) has to mature as a player and respect my decisions. “We gave up Joe Devance for him (Mercado). Sana lang he should understand that we gave up something big. Give and take lang naman ang basketball." Coming off a shocking 89-79 win over Air21 also three nights ago, Barako Bull was aiming to clinch its first back-to-back win in the All-Filipino tournament in years. But all the Boosters could do was take a 2-0 lead after the tip-off, before everything went Rain or Shine’s way. The Elasto Painters took command when they unloaded a 12-0 blast in the first period, then outscored the Energy Boosters, 10-2, in the second quarter to take a 48-29 lead. With Reyes collecting 16 points in the first half alone, Rain or Shine stormed to a commanding 20-point advantage at the half, 53-33. The lead eventually ballooned to its biggest at 77-53 on a three-pointer by Gabe Norwood near the end of the third. “We had better ball movement this time," said Garcia. “One of our best games this season." Mercado shot 8-of-11 from the field, while Reyes added 13 rebounds and four assists. Jeff Chan added 11 points while Larry Rodriguez came off the bench to score 10 on a 5-of-7 clip from the floor. Barako Bull fell to 2-4 despite a career-best-tying 29 points from Mark Isip. Reed Juntilla added 15 off the bench while Ken Bono contributed 10. - KY, RCJ, GMANews.TV