The Elasto Painters drew a career-high output from Jeff Chan and ripped open a close game late in the third quarter, notching their seventh win in blasting winless Shopinas.com 96-75 and keeping a firm grip of the solo lead in the PBA Philippine Cup Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Chan scored 28 points on 11-of-18 from the field, Jervy Cruz had 11 points and 10 rebounds and rookie Paul Lee collected eight assists as Rain or Shine matched the longest winning streak of the season at four.

“I’m very pleased at the way we’re playing,” said Guiao. “Even though I was out for majority of the contest the system is already in place. They know what to do. This is a good game for us, we can enjoy the one-week break and at the same time, we can prepare hard for our next game against Barako.

“This is already an over-achievement for our franchise. We now feel we can take any team and give them a good fight.” 

Guiao was thrown out with still 3:12 left to play in the second quarter. He shoved Ogie Menor as the Shopinas.com guard was running by shortly after knocking down a three-point shot and taunting the Painters by clapping his hands.

“It’s unfortunate that I was not able to coach for more than half of the game,” said Guiao. “As they say, a person who falls for a fool is a bigger fool.’”  It was when Guiao was out when Rain or Shine stepped on the gas.

The Painters were only ahead by 54-49 when the league-leading franchise unloaded a rare 21-0 blast. That assault wherein Chan scored 11 points gave Rain or Shine 75-49 advantage Shopinas.com never was able to overcome.

“Jeff Chan is the most consistent in team offense,” said Guiao. “But everybody is contributing in his own way, offensively or defensively. The confidence is high.”  This is the second straight time that the Painters won with relative ease. In their match against Meralco last Oct. 30, they massacred the Bolts by 44 points (139-95) built around on an all-time high 22 three-point shots.

Yet unlike in that game, Rain or Shine struggled early on against the Clickers. Its long-court power was nowhere to be found, and Shopinas.com even led at 23-19 early in the second quarter.

But again, the Clickers failed to sustain their poise, yielding control of the match late in the second period as Rain or Shine took a 43-39 lead at the halftime break.

James Sena paced the Clickers with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Menor contributed 14 points.

Shopinas.com dropped its seventh straight game without a win to show.

Meralco bounced back from a 44-point loss later in the night, outlasting Ginebra, 93-87.

The Bolts forced Jay-Jay Helterbrand to commit a crucial error with 9.8 seconds left and then compelled Nino Canaleta to launch a difficult turn-around three-pointer with 7.7 ticks to go to collect their fifth win in eight games while dealing the Kings their third loss in six outings.

“This team cannot win on offense,” said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio. “We cannot outshoot our opponents. But if we buckle down on defense, the sky is the limit.”  “Our target was to end up at No. 4 after losing by 44. It’s nice to win after such a humbling defeat.”  It was a game that tested both ball clubs’ nerves, and in the end, it was Meralco which did not crumble.

Mark Macapagal drained a three-point shot with 1:53 to go to make it an 88-82 ball game, but Ginebra, ever the fighting team it is, cut the deficit to within 88-87 after a follow-up by Enrico Villanueva and a triple by Canaleta.

Sol Mercado missed an attempt in the ensuing play, but Ginebra failed to capitalize. Helterbrand lost possession of the leather, which was recovered by Mark Borboron who immediately called a time-out. Mark Cardona was fouled and sank two free throws, before Canaleta misfired on his three-point attempt.

Cardona led Meralco with 25 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals while Mercado added 14 points.