On the verge of a huge collapse and with the stakes truly high, Jeff Chan showed how big time a player he is and rescued Rain or Shine on Friday night.

The left-handed gunslinger dropped 19 fourth quarter points on Phoenix Petroleum and led the Elasto Painters to a 109-104 victory that kept Rain or Shine in the hunt for an upper bracket spot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Chan was involved in all the critical plays in the stretch and the Painters had a stroke of good luck coming their way with 17.6 seconds remaining as Rain or Shine improved to 5-4.

“He’s our life-saver,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said of the 6-foot-2 Chan, who finished with 25 points, his biggest output in more than a year, to two three others in twin digits. “He was there for us when we needed him.”

The Painters had control for most of the night before the Fuel Masters made a dogged run late in the third quarter, even wresting a 106-105 lead with 17.6 seconds remaining only for Kevin Pinkney’s short stab to be nullified because of an offensive goal-tending violation.

“I think that was a break due us,” Guiao said. “We had a couple of bad ones that came and I thought that we deserved that one.”

Chan had a brilliant assist to import Mo Charlo which made it 105-104 with 32.1 seconds to go, before Pinkney, while his short attempt was still circling the rim, pulled down the net that actually influenced the shot in going in.

Though there were no calls made during the play itself, game officials called for a review of the play and after a deliberation that took quite a while to end, decided to nullify the shot and hand over possession back to the Elasto Painters.

Phoenix officials and coaching staff were up in arms and actually stormed to the middle of the court to plead their case, citing the fact that no calls were made during the play, hence, no need for the review.

The loss was the sixth in nine games for the Fuel Masters, who failed to win back-to-back games for the first time in franchise history, having come into the game just two nights removed from a 124-120 overtime victory over Blackwater.

Though they still have a chance to march on to the first round of the playoffs with victories in their last two games, it is likely that the best that they could wind up with is being the seventh or eighth-ranked squad that would need to beat a top two opponent two straight times to advance.

That is exactly what the Painters are trying to avoid. It was also foremost in the mind of Chan in taking over the game.

“I just felt good about it, coming into the fourth quarter,” Chan told Arabnews while on his way to the parking lot. “I just didn’t want to lose because a loss would have extinguished our chances of making a best-of-three series.”

Tournament format calls for the top eight teams to make it past the elimination round, with Nos. 1 and 2 needing to beat Nos. 8 and 7, respectively, just once to make it to the Final Four.

Those in the middle of the pack – Nos. 3-6 – will then fall into two best-of-three series to determine the other two semifinalists. The third-ranked team clashes with No. 6, with Nos. 4 and 5 colliding in the other match-up.

Willie Wilson scored 21 points, Pinkney and RR Garcia had 20 each, with the Phoenix import also hauling down 14 rebounds and missing a triple double by just three assists.

Meanwhile, Alaska tries to stay in the running for a top two finish when the Aces slug it out with beleaguered Star in an out-of-town game slated at the USEP Gym in Davao City.

Game time is 5 p.m. with the odds stacked in favor of the Aces, who would need a win to keep second-running San Miguel Beer in sight. Alaska has a 5-3 record, while the Beermen tote a 5-2 slate.

Idle Meralco is in the lead with a 6-2 card.

The Hotshots will be without former two-time MVP James Yap, who was declared out for the rest of the elimination round because of a bruised right calf.