THE Rain or Shine Elasto Painters avoided falling into a deep hole after they whipped the TNT Tropang 5G, 107-86, in Game 3 of their best-of-seven semifinal series in the 49th PBA Philippine Cup on Sunday night, June 29, at the Araneta Coliseum.

Rain or Shine registered its first win in the series, moving within 1-2 behind the brilliance of Anton Asistio, who exploded for a personal playoffs-high 24 points.

After losing Game 1, 91-98, and Game 2, 105-113, the Elasto Painters took advantage of TNT’s manpower woes as the Tropa played without Roger Pogoy.

Pogoy sat out due to a hamstring injury. He is also expected to miss Game 4 where the Elasto Painters will try to even the series up.

Caelan Tiongson, Keith Datu, Santi Santillan, and Adrian Nocum all scored in double figures to provide Asistio the much-needed support.

Calvin Oftana topped the Tropa with 16 points while Glen Khobuntin and Simon Enciso had 12 each.

Rain or Shine ended the opening period with a 33-15 lead. Without one of its top guns, TNT couldn’t recover, allowing its opponent to cruise all the way.

THE SCORES:

RAIN OR SHINE (107) – Asistio 24, Tiongson 16, Datu 13, Santillan 12, Nocum 10, Caracut 8, Norwood 6, Malonzo 6, Mamuyac 5, Porter 4, Clarito 3, Ildefonso 0, Escandor 0

TNT (86) – Oftana 16, Khobuntin 12, Enciso 12, Vosotros 9, Galinato 8, Williams 8, Heading 7, Aurin 4, Erram 4, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Varfilla 0, Nieto 0, Ebona 0.QUARTERSCORES: 33-15, 51-37, 84-57, 107-86.(CCM)

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• #Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
• #TNT Tropang 5G
• #Game 3
• #49th PBA Philippine Cup
• #Anton Asistio
• #Roger Pogoy