Rain or Shine's Santi Santillan in action. PBA Images

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Rain or Shine got the better of Eastern, 99-81, to enter the win column of the 2024-25 PBA Commissioner's Cup on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

"We played really good defense against against a bigger team, 'no. I think 'yun 'yung crucial," said coach Yeng Guiao, who was pleased with how the Elasto Painters held Eastern's three-point percentage.

The visitors only had seven makes from beyond the arc on 20 attempts, and they ended the game with 35.2 percent field goal shooting on the floor.

In contrast, the Elasto Painters had a better night when it comes to field goal conversions, listing a 44.4 percent clip.

American-Ivorian forward Deon Thompson also made a good first impression in his PBA debut, at least for Guiao and company.

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"We're happy with the way he performed. He was late coming in. Wala pa siyang isang linggo, but he changed our chemistry for the better. Mas maganda ang ikot ng bola namin sa kaniya," the decorated mentor shared.

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"He's got the inside game and the outside game. Medyo malas pa sa labas. 'Pag lumabas [ang] tunay na laro, mas magiging problema siya ng ibang team," Guiao added.

When the dust settled, Thompson had a total of 21 points and 15 rebounds and did his share of defending their Wednesday rivals, tallying three steals and two blocks.

That impressive showing by Thompson was supported by Santi Santillan, who took the Best Player of the Game nod after putting up 18 points and collected five rebounds.

For the guest team's part, it was their maiden loss in the tourney after strong performances against Converge and Phoenix.

Eastern missed the services of playmaker Glenn Yang, who wasn't able to play because of a passport problem.

Cameron Clark had a 30-12 output, notably dropped against his former coach in NLEX.

The Scores:

RAIN OR SHINE 99 - Thompson 21, Santillan 18, Datu 10, Tiongson 10, Nocum 8, Ildefonso 8, Caracut 7, Belga 5, Clarito 4, Lemetti 3, Asistio 3, Demnusis 2.

EASTERN 81 - Clark 30, Cheung 11, Sulaiman 11, Cao 9, Blankley 7, Lam 6, Zhu 5, Guinchard 2, Chan 0, Leung 0, Pok 0, Xu 0.QUARTERS: 24-18, 43-34, 70-64, 99-81