MANILA — The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters demolished the Phoenix Fuel Masters, 106-89, with an explosive 41-point output in the final quarter in the 2016 PBA Governors' Cup Saturday night. The Painters were trailing by points at the start of the fourth canto when they suddenly caught fire. Import Dior Lowhorn paced the Painters with 26 points and 14 rebounds while JR Quinahan added 18 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Painters nailed their first win debuting in the conference with a loss to TNT Wednesday. Gabe Norwood sparked Rain or Shine fourth-quarter rampage, scoring 11 of his 14 points in the period. TNT 98, Meralco 95 The TNT KaTropa Texters once again leaned on the heroics of veteran top gunner Jayson Castro to turn back the Meralco Bolts, 98-95. Jayson Castro, regarded as Asia's best point guard, finished with 24 points, seven boards, and five assists as TNT joined San Miguel Beer and Mahindra at the top of the leaders' board with a 2-0 mark. The Bolts suffered their first loss in three games. TNT imports Mario Little and Mike Madanly scored 14 points apiece while offseason recruit Kris Rosales showed a lot of promise, finishing with 13 points. The Texters' airtight defense on Bolts import Allen Durham played a key role in the victory as the streak-shooting forward was held to just 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting after averaging 34 markers in his first two games. Cliff Hodge led Meralco with 18 while Jared Dillinger and Jimmy Alapag added 15 and 11 markers, respectively. Games Sunday: GlobalPort Batang Pier (0-2) vs. Star Hotshots (0-2) and Barangay Ginebra Kings (1-0) vs. Alaska Aces (0-1). All-Star Game set The starters for the 2016 PBA All-Star Game have been named with reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo leading the South All-Stars. The San Miguel star is joined by Star's James Yap, and Ginebra's Greg Slaughter, Joe Devance and rookie Scottie Thompson. SMB's Leo Austria is the team's coach. Comprising the starters for the North All-Stars are Alaska's Calvin Abueva, GlobalPort's Terrence Romeo, Star's Marc Pingris, and Ginebra's Mark Caguioa and Japeth Aguilar. Rain or Shine's Yeng Guiao is the team's coach. Other members of the two All-Star teams will be announced later. The mid-season spectacle is set on August 7. Batang Gilas bow to Taiwan The Philippine national youth basketball team lost its first game in the FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship campaign as Batang Gilas suffered a 74-88 drubbing from Chinese Taipei Friday night (early Saturday in Manila) in Tehran, Iran. Jonas Tibayan was the lone double-digit scorer for Batang Gilas with 15 points. After a tight first quarter, the Taiwanese started pulling away, leading, 40-20, after just five minutes into the second quarter. Batang Gilas managed to cut the deficit to just 12, 83-71, in the fourth quarter before the Taiwanese reasserted their dominance. The Filipinos next face Iraq. Batang Gilas is hoping to reach the top three to advance to the FIBA World Under-19 Championship next year.
