Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — Height is not always might. The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters proved this Wednesday as they outrebounded and outwitted the much taller San Mig Coffee Mixers en route to a resounding 91-83 victory in Game 1 of their 2012-2013 PBA Philippine Cup best-of-seven semifinals duel at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Enjoying a height advantage, the Mixers were supposed to dominate the Painters. But the wily Painters used gang rebounding to win the battle of the boards, 48-46, with 6'5” Jervy Cruz pulling down 15 rebounds, including seven offensive boards, and scoring seven points. Jeff Chan also played a huge role in the Painters' victory as he finally broke out of a three-game shooting slump to lead his team's offensive with 18 points, including 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. Paul Lee provided crucial support, banging in 15 points, nine of them in the fourth quarter including back-to-back triples as the Painters took a 77-70 lead midway in the final canto. Beau Belga and Larry Rodriguez added 15 and 13 points, respectively, for Rain or Shine. Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao expressed relief that Chan, his team's top gunner, has recovered his shooting touch. He likewise paid tribute to his boys' determination to pull through. “Jeff finally got his range back. He's a big help to us. Of course, our biggest concern coming into this game was rebounding, but I think we've done well in that department. We just worked harder than they did so we equalized the boards,” Guiao said. The Painters also played steadier than the Mixers, leading to a 15-6 disparity in turnover points. In the other semifinals Game 1 played earlier, Ryan Reyes drained the winning three-point shot with 14 seconds left as the Talk N Text Tropang Texters escaped with a 66-65 win against the Alaska Aces. With two seconds to time, Reyes took a pass from Jayson Castro and buried a dagger trey that erased a two-point Alaska lead. The Aces still had a chance to win the game, but the Texters' solid defense foiled a drive by JV Casio, forcing the latter to whip up a pass to Tony dela Cruz who made a hurried attempt and missed. The Texters won despite shooting just a woeful 29.7 percent (22-of-74) from the field as against the Aces' 36.8 percent (28-of-76). Talk N Text head coach Norman Black admitted that they were lucky to take Game 1. “It's a very difficult win for us. But I'm very happy because we were able to grind it out. It's been a defensive struggle, that's normally what happens in the playoffs,” Black said. He said the Aces found a way to slow down his boys, forcing them out of their offensive rhythm. “They slowed us down obviously. But I'm quite happy we played physically and happy with the way we played defense,” Black added. Jayson Castro led Talk N Text with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Sonny Thoss starred for the Aces, outplaying his TNT counterpart Ranidel de Ocampo in the post and finishing with 14 points and 14 rebounds in 35 minutes of action. Calvin Abueva also finished with a double-double 10 points and 17 rebounds in 41 minutes of action, a conference-high for Alaska's super rookie. Surprisingly, the loss did not dampen the spirits of Alaska head coach Luigi Trillo, who noting that the closeness of the game showed that his team has the ability to beat the top-seeded and two-time defending champion Texters. Game Two of the series is set for Friday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
