Chan's buzzer-beating trey lifts Painters over Express

source: gmanews.tv
Jeff Chan buried a three-pointer at
the buzzer and Rain or Shine pulled
off an 89-86 cliffhanger over Air21
to enter the win column of the PBA
Philippine Cup Wednesday night at
the Astrodome.


Chan found himself alone on the
left flank after three Air21
defenders ganged up on the
driving Solomon Mercado in the
Elasto Painters’ final play.
Getting the crucial pass from his
burly national player teammate,
Chan squared up and rifled in the
winning shot off a rushing Ronjay
Buenafe with the ball hitting
nothing but the the net as the final
buzzer sounded.
The hot-shooting guard from Far
Eastern University ended up with a
team-high 19 points, seven assists
and six rebounds, including an
impressive 4-of-7 shooting from
three-point land.
Ironically, the shot was Chan’s lone
attempt in the fourth period.
"That play was well-designed
by coach Caloy Garcia. Just give
credit to him," said Chan, humble
even in victory. “I really thought
the shot wasn't going in."
Garcia simply returned the
compliment.
“Jeff was hot the whole game,"
he said. “When Sol attacked the
basket, he saw Jeff open. I hope
that shot gave him the
confidence for when we play
against bigger teams."
The Elasto Painters leveled their
record at 1-1, while handling Air21
its second straight loss despite
finally having top rookie pick
Nonoy Baclao suiting up for the
team.
Baclao, the elongated 6-foot-4
forward out of Ateneo, finished
with only four points in his pro
debut after missing the Express’
opening game against San Miguel
Friday of last week owing to a
hyper-extended knee.
Mercado had 14 points for Rain
or Shine, but could only split his
free throws with 15.9 seconds
left for an 86-84 lead.
Left with no timeout, the Express
wasted time, and then opted to go
to Ronjay Buenafe, who was fouled
by Doug Kramer while driving hard
to the basket.
Buenafe sank both free throws
to tie the count at 86, leaving
the Elasto Painters 5.4 seconds
to map out their winning play.
The former Emilio Aguinaldo
College star paced the winless
Express with 25 points, 13 of
them coming in a big third
period by Air21.
He got ample support from rookie
Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who added 19
points and 13 rebounds for his
second consecutive double-double.
He also had three blocks.
The loss was a sorry one for the
Express, who came back from a
40-50 deficit at the half to take a
74-71 lead entering the final period
after scoring 34 big points in the
third, mainly on the efforts of
Buenafe.
Air21 was still on top, 82-77,
following a basket by Leo
Najorda with 5:44 to play,
before going silent on offense in
the next five minutes.
The Elasto Painters took
advantage of the situation by
scoring eight unanswered
points to seize the upperhand at
85-82 with 3:04 remaining.
Buenafe finally snapped the scoring
drought for the Express before
Mercado had a split at the other
end to stretch Rain or Shine’s lead
to two. - RCJ, GMANews.TV