New import Carl Montgomery, who recently arrived in the Philippines to replace an injured Denzel Bowles, played his first game as an Elasto Painter with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Yet, it was veteran Beau Belga who performed with one of his best games in the conference at 22 points and five rebounds coming off the bench, going four for nine from beyond the arc. Ed Daquioag totalled 14 points as well. Now, Rain or Shine stands with five wins and five losses, improving their bid to get into the top six.
For Magnolia, who is still suffering from their first runner-up finish from the recently concluded Philippine Cup, Ian Sangalang tried to fight for victory at 24 points, while James Farr had a double-double of 19 points and 23 rebounds. However, it did not prevent their third loss in a row following a five-game winning streak. Mark Barroca also almost totalled a triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists.
For RoS head Coach Caloy Garcia, he revealed that to obtain the back-to-back wins, he “just challenged the players today that having a new import is gonna be difficult plus the situation that [they] have.” He commented on their new import, stating, “He’s not the biggest import, not the tallest or strongest import but he was able to give the energy at the start of the second half when he started scoring.”
Reviewing their loss, Hotshots’ head coach Chito Victolero also told the press post-game, “It’s heavy, it’s hard. I don’t know, but maybe there’s really a problem with our defense and again, we had a chance but we didn’t finish. Maybe we need to check ourselves.”
Rain or Shine will be continuing to use Montgomery’s services as they face the San Miguel Beermen next on Saturday, July 13 at Cagayan de Oro City. But, for Magnolia, it’s back to the drawing board as they prepare to go head-to-head against TNT KaTropa on Wednesday, July 17 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.