Rain or Shine slips past Alaska in OT, forces decider

MANILA, Philippines – Beau Belga hit two clutch baskets in overtime to cap a career high-tying 21-point job, and Rain or Shine overcame a tough stand by an all-Filipino Alaska side in the last 12 minutes of play, carving out a 123-121 thriller that forced a sudden death in their PBA Governors Cup Final Four matchup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Thursday night.

With his teammates losing their touch at the finish, Belga rose to the occasion, scoring the game’s last two baskets to rescue the Elasto Painters from the jaws of defeat.

Jayvee Casio missed what could have been a game-winning three-pointer in the dying seconds and the E-Painters eventually escaped with the win, sending the best-of-five series to full distance.

Rain or Shine and Alaska battle for one last time for a shot at the Governors Cup crown at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, grand slam-seeking San Mig Coffee and former Philippine Cup three-peat champ Talk n Text square off in their own do-or-die battle at 8 p.m. Friday at the Big Dome.

“For us this is it. We wanted to get to a Game Five and now we are here. What’s left is to finish the job and leave all our energy on the court. We will be all out,” said coach Norman Black whose TnT troops forced the rubber match with victories in Games Three and Four.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t get it Wednesday night, but we’re certainly not discouraged. We felt from the beginning that this series was going to go down to the wire, so it’s no surprise to us that we’re playing a Game Five,” said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.

“We’ve played a bunch of these knockout games over the past couple of years, so we’re not intimidated by them. We’re just going to go out and put together the best game possible and see what happens,” Cone added.

It’s either the Mixers gaining a franchise record fourth straight finals and a shot at the Triple Crown or the Texters avenging their Commissioner’s Cup finals loss to San Mig Coffee and earning a crack at a first title after their three-year reign as all-Filipino champs from 2011-13.

Rain or Shine forced the deciding Game Five against Alaska while drawing big breaks in the crunch.

“We didn’t imagine this would be this difficult. We got a break of a lifetime with the slip of Jayvee Casio,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao referring to Casio slipping on a wet portion of the floor on the way to a breakaway layup for what could have been a 123-121 edge for Alaska with 33.9 ticks left.

Another big blow for the Aces was losing import Henry Walker on a flagrant infraction on Paul Lee with 6:24 left in regulation play.

Felled to the floor by Walker’s elbow on the back of his head, Lee stood up, stayed in the battle and had his moment helping extend the game to extra five minutes.

In a game marked by a total of 29 three-pointers between the two teams, Lee drained the last of their 14 triples, giving them a 115-113 lead.

But Casio drained a runner and the Aces completed a rally from an 11-point deficit minus their import in the last six minutes, sending the game into OT on an 18-7 closing run.

The E-Painters could have still wrapped it up in regulation but Jeff Chan missed a three-point try at the buzzer.

The two teams figured in a fierce shootout from the first half with the E-Painters erecting an early big lead on a 7-of-12 three-point clip in the first quarter then the Aces fighting back on Dondon Hontiveros’ 5-of-5 three-pointers in the second period.

The E-Painters led by as many as 19, 43-24, after Beau Belga scored from close range then Jeff Chan nailed his own trey at the start of the second quarter.

But then Hontiveros came out firing in the second period, starring in a searing Alaska that saw the Aces charge to within one, 59-60, at the turn.

They exchanged more three-pointers in the third period with Rain or Shine opening with a 10-5 run spiked by three treys by Belga and Chan.

On the other end, Hontiveros stretched a perfect three-point shooting to 7-of-7 before getting a first miss. It’s the second best by anybody in the league in terms of perfect clip in some stretch next to the 8-of-8 by Allan Caidic and Renren Ritualo.