SEVEN years later and needing someone who could help turn their campaign around, Rain or Shine has finally linked up with import Greg Smith II.
Smith passed his initial test with flying colors last night, leading the Elasto Painters to a hard-earned 122-117 victory over the Blackwater Bossing for their first win in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Smith notched 38 points, to go with six rebounds and five assists, while Leonard Santillan chipped in 16 markers and seven boards.
Shaun Ildefonso, Nick Demusis, and Rey Nambatac also had 12 points each for the Painters, who snapped a four-game losing streak, counting a 108-116 loss to defending champion Ginebra eight days ago, and improved to 1-4.
Blackwater tumbled to its fourth defeat in a row, including a 106-119 setback at the hands of Terrafirma four days ago and dropped to 1-5 in the season-ending tourney.
Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao tipped his hat off to Smith for promptly making an impact in his debut for the squad.
“I have to be honest. I was kinda worried because he came from a long flight and hasn’t been really competing the last few months. So, I know he’s not in 100 percent shape, but I guess he just proved me wrong today and played his heart out,” Guiao said. “I wasn’t really expecting him to score heavily tonight. . . just try to help out the team in different ways but that’s really a big bonus for us.
“We’re happy. Hindi na namin masyadong alam ang pakiramdan ng manalo, matagal na.
Nag-0-4 kami, but we told ourselves and we agreed that we will commit ourselves in these last seven, six games, there’s still a chance as long as we make the playoffs, as long as we’re there,” he added.
The 6-foot-6 Smith, who replaced Michael Qualls, was Guiao’s reinforcement choice for the Painters in the same edition of the Third Conference in 2016 but he exceeded the pro league’s height limit of 6-foot-5 for imports at that time.
Rain or Shine trailed 66-67 at the half and 87-95 going into the payoff period.
But the Painters unleashed a crippling 19-5 blitz to start the fourth quarter capped by a Demusis triple that gave them a 106-100 edge with 7:12 to go.
A Baser Amer trey shoved the Bossing to within 112-117 with only 1:02 left that proved to be too little, too late.
Reinforcement Troy Williams carried the fight for Blackwater with 40 points, 13 caroms, and six feeds, while James Sena added 15 markers.
