RoS stakes win streak vs Petron

MANILA, Philippines - Streaking Rain or Shine tries to stretch its win run to six and firm up its hold of the lead as it collides with Petron Blaze today in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

The Elasto Painters trounced the Barako Energy, 93-81, last Friday for their fifth win in a row and seventh overall in eight games as they wrested the solo lead from Talk n Text, which totes a 6-1 card.

But against the Boosters (5-3), the reigning Governor’s Cup champions, the Elasto Painters need to further toughen their game although they have disposed of their last five opponents by an average winning margin of 23 points.

Meanwhile, Brgy. Ginebra shrugged off a sloppy start with a big second quarter run as it ran away with a 92-79 rout over a hapless Shopinas.com side to join B-Meg in sixth at 4-4.

The Kings outscored the Clickers in the second period, 33-13, to erect a 53-31 bulge at the turn then frolicked in the final half to deal Shopinas.com its ninth straight defeat.

Willy Wilson came through with a solid game, firing 12 points and hauling down nine rebounds while KG Canaleta also scored 12 markers and Jayjay Helterbrand added 10 points for the Kings.

“We know that Petron is one of the teams in the upper half of the standings, they just didn’t start right but they’re back into the thick of things,” said RoS coach Yeng Guiao.

Gametime is at 6:30 p.m.

He also knows too well that their streak could just be temporary and one or two mistakes along the way could mess things up.

“We’re happy we’re on top but we’re aware we’re in a fragile situation because once we relax and we lose one or two games, we’ll crumble,” said Guiao.

“We have the confidence now but we can’t be too complacent because the moment we do, there’s chance we might start relaxing and commit errors,” he added.

Focus will also be on the 4:15 p.m. rematch of B-Meg and Alaska with the former out to repeat its previous win and post its third straight triumph after victories over Meralco and Shopinas.com.

The Llamados are far ahead of the Aces (1-6) in the standings, but B-Meg coach Tim Cone remains wary of his former team, which they beat, 81-75, last Oct. 12.

“We hope to try to approach this as just another game, we don’t want to get into the hype of a basketball game,” said Cone. “I don’t take a delight of beating Alaska, there’s nothing extra but I certainly want to beat them.”