MANILA — TY Tang and Jonathan Uyloan emerged as new heroes for Rain or Shine as the Elasto Painters turned back the defending champion Purefoods Star Hotshots, 83-74, in the PBA Philippine Cup Sunday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum. Tang soared high over Marc Pingris to follow up his own missed shot, and then Uyloan banged in a long three-pointer that pushed ROS' to eight points, 80-72, stopping a Purefoods' comeback bid with 1:50 left. The Painters nailed their fifth straight win and improved to a 7-2 win-loss mark, thus keeping alive their hopes of grabbing one of two outright semifinal berths as they took solo third place behind conference leaders Alaska (8-1) and San Miguel (8-1). ROS won despite missing the services of four key players — Jeff Chan, Jervy Cruz, Jeric Teng, and Chris Tiu — all sidelined by injuries. Paul Lee led the Painters with 18 points while Tang and Uyloan finished with 11and 9 points, respectively. Gabe Norwood and the now healthy JR Quinahan also added 11 points apiece. The loss snapped Purefoods' four-game winning streak as the Hotshots fell to a 5-4 mark, tying with Barangay Ginebra for fifth to sixth spott. Alex Mallari was the topscorer for Purefoods with 12 points while James Yap and Joe Devance had 11 and 10, respectively. GlobalPort 98, Barangay Ginebra 77 The GlobalPort Batang Pier gifted their new coach Eric Gonzales a huge win with a stunning 98-77 demolition of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings. The Batang Pier caught fire early in the game and stayed red-hot until the final buzzer, to hand the skidding Kings their third straight loss. Terence Romeo paced Globalport with 25 points, 13 in the first half alone, including a three-pointer at the end of the first half to give the Batang Pier a 21-point lead, 52-31. Anthony Semerad added 17 points while Alex Cabagnot and Keith Jensen chipped in 15 and 11 markers, respectively. The Batang Pier led by as many as 24 points, 57-33. The closest the Kings could come was at 91-77 with two minutes left in the game. GlobalPort thus improved to a 5-5 win-loss, good for solo seventh place, as they pushed for a better position in the playoffs. Greg Slaughter led Ginebra with a double-double of 21 points and 15 rebounds. Japeth Aguilar finished with 14 while LA Tenorio and Mac Baracael added 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Kings shot a horrible 30 percent from the field (24-of-81) while the Batang Pier torched the net, hitting 37 of 77 shots, for a 48 percent shooting clip from the field. Games Tuesday: Barako Bull Energy vs. NLEX Road Warriors and Alaska Aces vs. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings.
