Rain or Shine white washes Alaska

Rain or Shine white washes Alaska

Rain or Shine 113 vs. Alaska 97

by rick olivares with photo by jun mendoza

April 1, 2011

Araneta Coliseum

The masters of execution met their match when the opposing team played as close to perfect game they ever will.

There were no spirited comebacks for the Alaska Aces this time around. The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters made sure of that.

“We tried to avoid a close game,” said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao who saw his once pace setting team snap an ugly four-game slide with an emphatic 113-97 demolition of the Aces. “Because that’s where their cohesion and experience come to play. So we wanted to put some distance between us and them.”

With the Aces still missing American import LD Williams who was serving out his one-game suspension for lashing out with an errant elbow against Mac Cardona in their stupefying win against Meralco last week, there was a huge concern about stopping Hassan Adams, arguably the best import in the league right now.

“We have to stop Adams’ drive,” underscored Alaska head coach Tim Cone before the game. “Make him work to get that ball. Now if we want to win this ballgame we have to do the little things.”

Unfortunately, it was Rain or Shine that did the little things. Guiao fielded all 14 of his players and it was only guard Jonathan Uyloan who did not add anything to the stat sheet where the Elasto Painters whipped the Aces in every category save shot blocks. Even in assists, where the Aces are the basketball version of football’s FC Barcelona, Cone’s wards were out-dimed 32-19.

“They really wanted it more,” observed a visibly disappointed Aces’ center Sonny Thoss of the final result that saw Alaska to a 5-3 record (with one to play against Air21).

“You gotta have more than that,” said Alaska assistant coach Dickie Bachmann of Thoss’ six boards. The 6’7” center was busy all night and had to contend with the active duo of Doug Kramer (11 points and 9 rebounds) and Beau Belga (20 points and 10 rebounds) who was the big difference in the match.

It was especially gratifying for Belga, the one-time PCU Dolphin, who seems to have found a home with the Elasto Painters and whose rugged style fits Guiao’s game plan quite well.

“Career high nab a yun,” wondered ROS’ coach after the match.

Since he was drafted seventh overall in 2008 by Purefoods, Belga has played for four squads in three years; a bad sign of journeyman status. After Purefoods, he went to Air21 where he played for Guiao, then to Meralco last conference before latching on to the Elasto Painters. In one match with the Bolts last conference, Belga put a hit on an opponent that had Meralco head coach Ryan Gregorio throwing a fit in the locker room at the half. “We don’t play that kind of basketball here (with Meralco),” he said through clenched teeth. “Wala ka na nagagawa sa court tapos bibigyan mo pa sila ng puntos sa technical foul.”

In truth, Belga is perfect for the PBA even with his penchant for roughhousing. He has good range, can run the floor, can pass, and can post up. Not to mention rebound.

His ability to stroke it from the outside was drawing Alaska’s big men out. Something not lost on Thoss who reasoned out when Aces assistant coach Dickie Bachmann pointed out his six boards. “I was chasing them out,” he said of Belga and Kramer.

With ROS holding a 29-20 lead at the start of the second period, Cone dug deep into his bench and fielded in Bonbon Custodio, Mark Borboran, Paolo Bugia, Sam Eman, and Brandon Cablay. The second unit incredibly got Alaska back in the game. The bench accounted for 41 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 assists.

“When Bonbon and I came in, we kind of said to one another, ‘let’s make something happen,’” said Cablay, the balik-Alaska guard who is slowly seeing an increase in his playing minutes.

Alaska’s bench got them back to within one 41-42 but Guiao sent Adams back into the fray. The former University of Arizona Wildcat scored on an and-one then hit a triple that had Alaska reeling. Jeff Chan hit a triple before Adams added two more free throws to close out the half at 53-46.

Alaska would not come close again. Joe Devance, Tony  dela Cruz, and Mark Borboran tried to bring the Aces back but the Elasto Painters kept coming at them in waves bringing no relief to the beleaguered Alaska squad. “They just had it all night,” dryly noted dela Cruz who also hauled down 10 boards to go with a block.

“I don’t know what this win means,” said Guaio who noted his team’s fate wasn’t only in his hands as team jockey for the playoffs. “We don’t care about who we will face as long as we get in.”

As for Alaska, they had to hope that B-Meg Derby Ace would lose its match to Talk ‘N Text later (they did albeit controversially) while winning their final match against Air21 to uncomplicated matters.

“I hope we learn from this,” Thoss hoped as the quiet Alaska locker room filed out. The loss knocked Alaska out of contention for the second and last outright semifinals berth (that Talk 'N Text later picked up with its win over the Llamados). “We have to. The benched picked us up tonight. Hopefully, in the next game, we’ll have everyone playing well.”

Rain or Shine 113 – Adams 22, Belga 20, Norwood 13, Chan 12, Kramer 11, Cruz 8, Vanlandingham 6, Rodriguez 6, Buenafe 6, Jazul 3, Araña 3, Ferriols 2, Tang 1, Uyloan 0

Alaska 97 – Devance 19, dela Cruz 17, Borboran 15, Thoss 10, Baguio 10, Custodio 7, Cablay 6, Eman 5, Tenorio 4, Bugia 4