Rain or Shine survived tense moments in the final minute to edge out San Miguel 87-83 and start its 2020 PBA Philippine Cup campaign on a high note Tuesday at the Angeles University Foundation gym in Pampanga.
Sophomore Javee Mocon tied his career-high by scoring 27 points on 7-for-9 shooting, while Kris Rosales and Beau Belga added 15 and 12 each for the Elasto Painters, who botched a 13-point lead early in the payoff period before pulling some stops late in the game for the win.
Mo Tautuaa and Terrence Romeo fired two consecutive threes to pull SMB within one, 82-81, with 27 seconds left, but Rain or Shine was bailed out by a late triple from Rey Nambatac, who missed all his shots before beating the shot clock with his clutch basket 11 ticks remaining in the game.
Romeo managed to cut it to two after banking in a fadeaway jumper off a broken play with a second left, but Mocon took care of things on the other end by sealing the win with two free throws on the other end.
San Miguel fell to 1-1 in the conference but saw encouraging performances from Marcio Lassiter (20 points) and Alex Cabagnot (18). Tautuaa added 17 and 11 boards.