THE Rain or Shine Elasto Painters hung tough in the endgame to escape the Magnolia Hotshots, 109-105, at the start of their best-of-five quarterfinal series in the 49th PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Wednesday night, September 25.

Seeded No. 1 in Group B, Rain or Shine squandered an 11-point lead then trailed by as many as 10 points before coming up with a strong finishing kick to steal the victory.

Import Aaron Fuller delivered a solid game for the Elasto Painters, scoring 24 points while hauling down 20 rebounds as he outplayed Magnolia’s reinforcement Rayvonte Rice, who tallied just 16 points and two rebounds.

Jhonard Clarito finished with 20 points, Adrian Nocum, Leonard Santillan and Gian Mamuyac added 14, 12 and 12, respectively, in a solid local contribution by Rain or Shine.

Magnolia, seeded No. 4 in Group A, converted four of their 12 four-point shot attempts and that hot-shooting allowed them to take a 100-91 lead with 5:16 left.

Rain or Shine made a strong push, retaking the lead, 103-102, before finishing Magnolia with a back-breaking 11-3 attack.

THE SCORES:

RAIN OR SHINE (109) – Fuller 24, Clarito 20, Nocum 14, Santillan 12, Mamuyac 12, Caracut 9, Tiongson 9, Lemetti 5, Belga 2, Datu 2, Asistio 0.

MAGNOLIA (105) – Rice 16, Lee 15, Ahanmisi 15, Barroca 12, Lucero 11, Sangalang 11, Dela Rosa 8, Dionisio 7, Abueva 6, laput 2, Eriobu 2, Mendoza 0, Reavis 0.

QUARTERSCORES : 19-16, 51-50, 82-80, 109-105.(CCM)

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