Earlier in the week, Rain or Shine veteran Gabe Norwood announced that this will be his ‘last flight’ as he aims to retire at the end of the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup.
Norwood, on Saturday night, became the hero in the Elasto Painters’ 96-95 overtime win over the Meralco Bolts at the Ynares Center in Montalban.
The debuting Painters trailed by as much as 13 points in the fourth quarter, but they erased that as Norwood forced the overtime period with a tip-in.
He finished with 11 points and three rebounds in almost 29 minutes of play.
After being down by as much as 13 points, 74-87, in the fourth quarter following a jumper by Chris Newsome, the Painters unleashed a massive 14-2 run capped by a 4-pointer by Caelan Tiongson to make it a one point game, 88-89, with about 17 seconds left in regulation.
A split from the line by Newsome pushed Meralco ahead, 90-88.
With a shot to either tie it or get the lead, Rain or Shine went to Adrian Nocum, who missed two jumpers. Norwood, though, cleaned up the second miss with a tip-in to tie things up with 1.2 seconds left.
Newsome then missed the game-winning 3-pointer, as time expired.
In the extra five minutes, Michael Malonzo and Anton Asistio gave Rain or Shine the much-needed breathing room to grab a 94-90 advantage.
Chris Banchero, however, hit a 3-pointer to slice the deficit to one, 93-94.
Caelan Tiongson answered with a jumper of his own, before Banchero’s layup set the final score with 1:43 left.
Both teams then exchanged misses down the stretch, as Newsome and Allein Maliksi failed to push Meralco ahead for good, enabling the Painters to hold on.
After the game, Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao acknowledged that they wouldn’t have won the game without Norwood.
“Well, Gabe played a really good game today. Offense and defense. He put in those crucial two points, I think, to tie,’ he said.
‘Gabe’s playing well. He’s still a really important part of the team. And we could not have won this game without Gabe,’ he added.
Guiao stressed that he thought they were about to lose, but he asked his team to give their best.
‘We struggled. We almost lost the game. It was actually looking like a losing game in the last three or four minutes. But we found a way. I think that’s character,’ he stated.
‘You know you have a good team when, in spite of a lot of things not going your way, you still find a way to win. I think that’s a sign that we have a really good group and we beat a really tough team,’ he added.
Tiongson carried the load for Rain or Shine with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Keith Datu backstopped with 11 markers and seven boards, while Adrian Nocum and Andrei Caracut had 10 apiece.
Bong Quinto and CJ Cansino powered Meralco with 18 points apiece. The former had 10 rebounds, while the latter had eight boards.
The Bolts dropped to 0-2 in the conference.