A MILESTONE for one of its veterans and a trip down memory lane.
These served as the perfect themes to Rain or Shine’s 110-90 whipping of winless Converge last Wednesday night in the PBA Philippine Cup.
The Elasto Painters showed up at the Smart Araneta Coliseum wearing jerseys of the Welcoat Dragons–the franchise’s maiden banner when it joined the pro league in 2006.
The Terry Que and Raymond Yu co-owned ballclub changed its team name to Rain or Shine in 2008 but Painters coach Yeng Guiao maintained the independent team is consistent in one thing–integrity.
“It feels good to wear iyong ganitong jersey and maraming nagco-comment na gusto nila iyong Dragons, iyong history ng franchise,” Guiao said. “Kaya rin ako siguro nagse-settle sa franchise na ito kasi it protected its good name all throughout.
“Inalagaan nila iyong pangalan nila na they will play by the rules, that they play fair and that they will be ethical,” he added.
Guiao is proud to be part of the squad which plays with character and values.
“It’s a good way to recognize ng mga tao na dito nanggaling iyan Welcoat sila, ngayon Rain or Shine and ethically, the character of the team hindi naman nag-iba,” Guiao said. “There are ups and downs but iyong character and values ng team hindi nag-iiba.”
Beau Belga, Andrei Caracut and Shaun Ildefonso all had career games as the Painters also notched their most lopsided victory in the import-less tilt since 2017.
Belga wound up with his first career triple-double of a career-best 25 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high-tying 10 assists. He became the first to achieve the feat this season and the first local player to do it in Rain or Shine history.
Caracut had a career-high of 13 dimes for the Painters to go with 15 markers for his third career double-double while Ildefonso finished with a career-best 15 points.
“Ipinapaalala lang sa amin ng mga boss namin kung paano nagsimula iyong team namin as a franchise dito sa PBA, iyon nga, iyong Welcoat Dragons,” Belga said. “Kumbaga sa amin gusto namin manalo wearing this jersey talagang pinilit namin tonight to get the win.”
