E-Painters sink Batang Pier

MANILA, Philippines -- Chris Tiu and Gabe Norwood hit timely three-pointers to break Globalport’s solid zone defense at the finish and propel the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to a fifth straight win with a 103-93 drubbing of the Batang Pier Friday night in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Tiu and Norwood combined for five treys, including one each at crunch time, enabling the Elasto Painters to stop the momentum of Globalport’s mighty charge from a 20-point deficit in the third period.

Norwood later came through with a three-point play on an assist by Bruno Sundov and off a foul by Sol Mercado as the E-Painters sealed their fifth consecutive victory after a losing conference debut against the Alaska Milk Aces.

Globalport fought back from 35-55 down but stymied its bid with a 0-of-3 clip from beyond the arc in the last two minutes.

The Batang Pier, who were down by just a point, 92-93, when they had those misses, suffered a fourth straight loss and fifth in seven games in all.

They are likely to show up in their next game Sunday against the Air21 Express with a new import in Walter Sharpe, the 32nd pick by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2008 NBA Draft.

Justin Williams made only six points on 2-of-9 field shooting and 2-of-6 charities in his farewell game in the local pro league. He was benched by coach Junel Baculi in the last 17 minutes of the game.

But the Globalport locals put up a gritty stand with Gary David, Sol Mercado and Willie Miller providing the firepower as the Batang Pier charged into the game in the final quarter.

“Good thing we made some big shots against their zone. We’re thankful it came in time to break Batang Pier’s momentum,” said RoS coach Yeng Guiao.

“We had some difficulty with their zone. They ‘zoned’ us from the third quarter all the way to the end. We’re lucky to hit three-pointers in time to salvage the game,” Guiao added.

It became a virtual all-Filipino duel with the Elasto Painters banking on their locals most of the fourth quarter as Sundov struggled with a 7-of-23 field shooting in the first three periods.

They blew away a huge lead but squeezed through on a 15-6 closing run by Norwood, Tiu and Jervy Cruz.

Tiu led the RoS locals with 16 points with Cruz and Norwood adding 15 and 13, respectively.

David led all scorers with 23 points spiked by 4-of-8 three-pointers. The Globalport top gun, however, had his own crucial three-point miss curiously on a fastbreak play against Norwood.

On the next play, Tiu knocked in his own attempt from way out and the E-Painters made it 96-92 with 1:03 left.

Mercado turned the ball over in their next possession, and then Cruz made it a six-point game with a short baseline jumper.

“We got a scare in the second half. We kind of relax after having a big lead. We’re also lucky that their import didn’t make that much of contribution,” said Guiao.