In the PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series, Rain or Shine finally made a breakthrough for TNT.

At the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday night, the Elasto Painters came back strong with a 107-86 thumping after a heartbreaking overtime loss that saw them fall to 0-2 in the best-of-seven match.

Coach Yeng Guiao and his team managed to avoid losing a third consecutive game against a TNT team without the other half of their dual scoring machine, RR Pogoy, thanks to five players finishing in double figures.

Barangay Ginebra regained the lead in the other semifinal match, defeating obstinate San Miguel 100-90.

RJ Abarrientos was the Kings’ hot hand, scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter to help them win and take a 2-1 lead in their own best-of-seven series.

Abarrientos scored a game-high 24 points in the end.

These are the five things to remember from this conference’s first semifinal doubleheader at the Big Dome.

The presence of Keith Dadu is felt for Rain or Shine

The 6-foot-7 Datu was absent from the first two games of the series, but in Game 3, he returned with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Elasto Painters.

In Games 1 and 2, the sophomore big man was a complete non-entity, averaging just 1.5 rebounds and one point. The team’s shortcomings in the center were somewhat mitigated by the effort, as the Elasto Painters struggled against players like Kelly Williams, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, and Poy Erram at the other end with freshman Caelan Tiongson and undersized forward Leonard Santillan.

Anton Assistio improves Rain or Shine scoring

This particular night, the small guard emerged from the shadows cast by Andre Caracut, Gian Mamuyac, and Andrian Nocum to oversee the Elasto Painters’ intense firing from the ground. Asistio scored 24 points on 7 of 9 field goals, which was an incredible total. He made two out of three four-pointers, four out of five three-pointers, and two out of two foul shots. The 30-year-old Ateneo product played 28 minutes without committing a turnover and added six assists.

Pogoy Injured and TNT reduced to a single barrel

The Cebuano guard missed the game because of a hamstring ailment, so the Tropang 5G clearly missed his high-scoring output. Calvin Oftana, the other half of TNT’s double scoring cannon, was left to largely bear the team’s offensive burden.

After scoring 39 points in the Game 2 victory, Oftana was a targeted man and was only able to score 16 points on 1 of 6 three-point attempts. After averaging 19.5 points in the first two games of the series, Pogoy could have undoubtedly made a difference if he had been healthy.

For SMB, Don Trollano remains consistent

Win or lose, the top-seeded club has been led by the seasoned guard. Since June Mar Fajardo isn’t feeling well, Trollano has been providing San Miguel with products. In Sunday night’s defeat, he scored 22 points on 9 of 14 shots, including 2 of 3 from the four-point range. In an attempt to keep the Beermen in the game, he scored ten points in the fourth quarter.

At last, Abarrientos discovers rhythm

Coach Tim Cone was anticipating the high-scoring rookie guard’s breakthrough performance. When the Kings eventually gained the necessary distance over the Beermen in the fourth quarter, Abarrientos scored 18 of his 24 points, demonstrating his explosive scoring ability.

The former star player for Far Eastern University finished the fourth quarter with a 6-of-8 field goal, including two three-pointers and one four-pointer.