MANILA: Denied of achieving it outright just three nights before, Rain or Shine is looking at achieving a franchise milestone the hard way.

Though last night didn’t look too hard at all for the Elasto Painters.

Barako Bull was simply no match for the Painters, who advanced to the quarterfinals of the Fiesta Cup after a thorough 96-88 dismantling of the Energy Boosters fueled by the career-high tying 29 points of super rookie Solomon Mercado at the Araneta Coliseum.

Mercado scored 27 points in the first half before limping out in the middle of the fourth quarter, doing what he had to on the offensive end as the Painters marched on against either Purefoods or Talk ‘N Text, which will play a KO match tomorrow night.

The stocky point guard jumpstarted the Rain or Shine offense, shooting 16 in the first period and 11 in the breakaway second that had the Painters erasing a 30-39 deficit on the way to taking a 12-point lead at the half.

It was all Rain or Shine from there as the Painters matched the best showing in their PBA existence by making the final eight and will gun to make the semifinals for the first time against either the Tender Juicy Giants or the Tropang Texters.

“I’m glad that we played the way we did, considering the kind of game we last played,”

Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia told scribes later, referring to a 37-point loss absorbed at the hands of defending champion Barangay Ginebra last Sunday. Rob Wainwright scattered 16 points, Gabe Norwood had a couple of electrifying dunks on the way to 13 and TY Tang was good for 10 as the Elasto Painters led by as many as 21 late in the third quarter before switching to cruise control in the fourth.

Larry Rodriguez topscored for the Boosters with 21, with sophomore swingman Jojo Duncil adding 12 and Alex Crisano chipping in with 10. Barako Bull finished 10th and last for the second straight tournament.

But the bad news here is that Mercado failed to finish the game because of a suspected hamstring pull, which he sustained while going for a layup with 5:35 left. He wasn’t able to continue and Garcia said that Mercado will be tested immediately to determine the extent of his injury.

Burger King also did not allow its wildcard pairing with Alaska to go the distance, upending the Aces in the second game, 96-90, to make the quarterfinals to face either Sta. Lucia or Coca-Cola.

Both the Talk ‘N Text vs Purefoods match and the Realtors vs the Tigers setto are set tomorrow with the winners advancing.

Shawn Daniels scored 20 points, grabbed 23 rebounds and had four assists for the Whoppers, who trailed only once, 6-5, early in the game, before wriggling out of a tight game to win with a lot of conviction.

Daniels, usually a horrid free throw shooter, made two charities with six seconds left to scuttle Alaska ‘s last-ditch rally and round out scoring.

Joe Devance led the Aces, who were the No. 9 seeds needing to beat their higher-ranked foes twice to advance, with 23 points, while Rosell Ellis added 19 for the team that won this tournament in 2007 when the import height limit was the same.

Meanwhile, Jay-Jay Helterbrand of Barangay Ginebra has been dropped from the National team that will play in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association championship in Medan , Indonesia , starting next week.

The 6-foot guard sustained a slight hamstring pull in a 114-71 trashing of the Painters on Sunday, and National coach Yeng Guiao deemed it best to not risk aggravating Helterbrand’s condition with two bigger international events coming.

In a related Seaba development, Laos and Thailand have begged off from joining at the last minute, leaving the Philippines with just four foes for the event that starts June 6. The RP delegation departs for Indonesia on June 4.

After the Seaba early next month, the Nationals will travel to Taipei for the prestigious Jones Cup, the final tune-up tournament for them before they battle the region’s best in the Fiba-Asia qualifying for the World Championship in China.

Tianjin will host the qualifying, where the top three finishers will earn berths to the World Championship scheduled next year in Istanbul, Turkey .