ANGE Kouame and Anton Assistio answered the call for Rain or Shine as they delivered in the clutch to survive a gritty Iran side in double overtime, 98-90, for its first ever win in the 42nd William Jones Cup on Wednesday.
The naturalized player stood at the forefront of a closing 10-2 Elasto Painters run in the second extra period that took the fight out of the Iranians at the Taipei Heping Gymnasium.
Assistio capped the scoring job by nailing a long three pointer, before Leonard Santillan put the exclamation point with a completed three-point play for the final count.
Until the telling run, the game was nip and tuck affair and was tied for the last time at 88-all.
The win was the first for coach Yeng Guiao and the Elasto Painters, who previously lost all of their first four outings including two winnable games against United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
The celebration may be a bit short for Rain or Shine though, as it faces Anyang KGC on Thursday.
Anyang, which sports a 2-1 slate in a tie for third with Chinese Taipei-B, is the reigning champion of the Korean Basketball League (KBL) and the East Asia Super League.
Kouame led Rain or Shine with 20 including 14 points in the two extra period when he practically carried the team on his broad shoulders.
The 6-foot-11 former Ateneo stalwart, who also added nine rebounds and nine block shots, accounted for all the points of the Elasto Painters in the first extra period, which ended at 83-all.
Andrei Caracut finished with 19 points and Santillan with 17 as they were responsible for giving Rain or Shine its biggest lead of the game at 72-58 in the fourth period.
But the Iranians, the same team which Gilas Pilipinas beat in the Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament in Guandong, China recently, crawled their way back and went on a huge 16-2 run to catch up with the Elasto Painters, 74-74, at the end of regulation.
Amir Azari had 16 points and Ali Reza Sharifi and Amir Yazarloo with 15 each for Iran, which fell to a 1-3 record.