By Vivem Soriano
Eagle News Service
Seventh-seed RoS Elasto Painters live to fight another day after outlasting TnT Katropa 106-102 at the Mall of Asia Arena to force a do-or-die game on Friday.
Painters import J’Nathan Bullock did the heavy lifting, scoring 31 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
Gilas stalwart Gabe Norwood paced the RoS locals with an all-around game of 15 points, including 4 threes, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.
Big man Raymond Almazan added 13 while Fil-Nigerian Maverick Ahanmisi scored 10 points.
RoS led by as much as 19 points in the 4th quarter after import Bullock connected with a three from downtown.
But the Katropa mounted a furious comeback, cutting the lead down to 3 after import Glen Rice Jr.’s thunderous dunk with less than a minute left in the game.
RoS however held on to the win after Gabe Norwood split his free throws 106-102, to make it a two possession game with just 18.9 seconds left.
Kelly Williams led TnT with 23 points, Jayson Castro added 22 while import Glen Rice Jr. contributed 19.