Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — Burly big man Beau Belga scored a career-tying 20 points, including four straight free throws in the homestretch, to lead the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to a hard-fought 94-89 victory against the Meralco Bolts on Friday night in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome. The Painters thus grabbed the early lead in the tournament with their second straight win following their 87-74 win against the Alaska Aces last Sunday in Davao City. The two squads fought on even terms for most parts of the game which had seven seven deadlocks and 13 lead changes. With the Bolts ahead, 89-87, with less than a minute left, Paul Lee scored on a three-point play to give the Painters back the lead, 90-89, with 35.6 seconds left. Top gunner and new acquisition Gary David had the chance to grab the lead back for Meralco but his three-point shot did not even touch the rim, leading to a wild scramble under the basket. Meralco's Mike Cortez finally recovered the ball and made a shot but was blocked by Jervy Cruz. Belga grabbed the ball after a questionable jumpball call by the referees. He was immediately fouled. The Rain or Shine center cooly sank the two free throws to pad their lead to three, 92-89. The Bolts still had one final chance to tie the match but Jared Dillinger's three-point shot was an airball. Belga drained two more throws to seal the win for Rain or Shine. Aside from his 20 points, Belga finished with seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. Four other Painters scored in double digits with Ryan Arana finishing with 14, Larry Rodriguez with 13, Paul Lee with 12, and Jeff Chan with 11. Rain or Shine converted only 34 of 84 shots from the field but made 12 of 28 three-point shots. David led all scorers with 24 points. Four other Bolts scored at least 10 each. The defeat was doubly hard for the Bolts as energetic power forward Cliff Hodge appeared to have sprained his right ankle while driving to the basket early in the fourth quarter. Before that, Hodge was leading a Meralco charge from a 62-69 deficit. He finished with seven points and 10 rebounds. Alaska 84, San Mig Coffee 80 The Alaska Aces took advantage of San Mig Coffee's crippled roster to hack out an 84-80 victory in the nightcap of the Friday night double-header. It was Alaska's first win in the tournament following an opening day loss to Rain or Shine last Sunday in Davao City. The Mixers played without top gunners Joe Devance and Peter June Simon as well as rookie Justin Melton. Sonny Thoss led the Aces with 19 points and eight rebounds while Cyrus Baguio added 18 points. JVee Casio added 15 points and five assists for Alaska, which joined the win column after an opening day loss to Rain or Shine last Sunday in Davao.
