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The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters ended their year on a winning note as they defeated the listless Barako Bull Energy Boosters, 88-72, in the 2009 KFC PBA Philippine Cup last night at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The win kept the Elasto Painters in the hunt for one of the wildcard slots while keeping the Energy Boosters at the bottom of the cellar. The victory improved Rain or Shine?s record to 4-10 (win-loss) while dropping Barako Bull to 2-12.
The 10th ranked team at the end of the elimination round will be eliminated from the competition.
For a moment, it seemed as if Barako Bull would be the ones having a merry Christmas as they led, 29-22, after making five three-pointers in the fist period. Aries Dimaunahan had a sizzling start as well, scoring 13 points in that stretch.
However, the Energy Boosters went cold in the face of Rain or Shine?s man-to-man defense that flustered them to scoring nine points during the second period.
Solomon Mercado of the Elasto Painters also caught fire as he scored 11 markers in the first half to tow his team to a 44-38 lead at the turn.
Things turned for the worst for Barako Bull as they fell prey to a 20-5 blast by Rain or Shine that put the latter in front by 21 points, 64-43.
The Elasto Painters kept the pressure on after that as they were not at all threatened in the fourth period.
Mercado scored 24 points and dished out eight assists to lead Rain or Shine. Helping him were Jeff Chan who had 15 points, and Mike Hrabak, who tallied 12 markers.
Rookie guard Ogie Menor paced Barako Bull with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Dimaunahan went cold after his first period salvo for 15 points. Yousif Aljamal, the Energy Boosters? leading scorer, was held down to just three points.
