Rain or Shine rallies to beat Meralco in overtime

Rain or Shine authored a comeback to remember and like only he can, Yeng Guiao provided the perfect post-game sidelight to add spice to the sweet victory.
The Elasto Painters overhauled a 26-point third quarter deficit on Wednesday night and tripped Meralco, 102-98, in overtime that eventually gave the Painters second place going into the final three weeks of the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.
Jeff Chan, Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood and Ryan Arana worked tirelessly to put the Painters back after trailing, 56-30, early in the third, before the entire team pulled out all the stops in the extra five minutes to up their record to 8-3.
Talk ‘N Text stayed in the pace after an easy 92-63 destruction of San Mig Coffee in the second game for 9-2, as the Mixers, who saw an end to a five-game winning streak, dropped to solo third with a 7-3 card.
Finishing in the top two is important since tournament format calls for the Nos. 1 and 2 squads to draw Nos. 8 and 7, needing to win just once in the quarterfinals to make the Final Four.
Winding up as Nos. 3 and 4, meanwhile, would mean a best-of-three playoff series with Nos. 6 and 5, respectively, hence, a tougher road to make the semifinals.
But last night was not all about placing for the Painters, who completed the second biggest comeback in the history of their franchise following a rally from 28 points down to win over Air21, 113-111, in the 2010 Fiesta Conference.
And Guiao had all the ammunition to fire back at coach Ryan Gregorio of Meralco.
“Coach Ryan said last week that they were complacent when they lost to us by 25 points (in the first round),” Guiao said. “They (Bolts) might have been complacent again today.”
“We are dedicating this win to (Meralco’s) Cliff Hodge and Kelly Nabong,” said Guiao, who had a spat with both Meralco rookies who figured in the center of several physical plays.
One of those plays saw the ejection of Rain or Shine’s JR Quiñahan for planting a forearm to the face of a driving Sol Mercado with 8:06 left in the third period.
Both benches almost emptied because of that and Nabong, who wasn’t part of the play, was called for a fighting stance foul for charging toward the direction of Quiñahan.
Arana was later tossed out for kicking Hodge in the groin while going for a drive, another physical play that almost took the luster out of the Painters’ great play that had them chopping down that 26-point deficit to just five entering the final period.
But Meralco was done.
After falling behind by as many as nine, Mercado drained three straight treys inside the final 1:45 to close out scoring in regulation at 88-all, before Belga took over for the Painters.
“After seeing JR (Quiñahan) get thrown out, I told myself that I can’t afford to make the same foolish mistake out there, otherwise, the team will not have a big man,” Belga told reporters in Filipino.
Belga scored 15 points, including two crucial triples, while Chan hit 25 points, 21 of them coming in the third and fourth period. Gabe Norwood also had 15 points that went with 12 rebounds.
Mercado went on to lead all Meralco scorers with 28 points, while Mac Cardona added 12.
Cardona, though, accounted for the most crucial error for Meralco, which had the chance to forge overtime, trailing, 98-100, but lost the ball on the dribble that led to two free throws by TY Tang for the final score.