MANILA: With Game 2 taking a very physical turn, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao knew that Petron Blaze just fell into a trap.

The Elasto Painters came roaring back from 16 points down in the first half and from 13 near the end of the third period Wednesday night to carve out a 103-94 win over Petron for a 2-0 lead in their PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series.

And after that, Guiao had some kind advice for the Boosters.

“I think they were trying to play physical that we had to be physical ourselves,” Guiao explained to reporters. “You have to be mentally into it if you want to play that game. It is more natural for us than it is to them (Boosters).”

Guiao gave that comment after June Mar Fajardo, the 6-foot-10 Petron cornerstone, almost lost his cool twice and threatened to punch a Rain or Shine player – Raymond Almazan in the first half and then Larry Rodriguez in the fourth period.

The incident with Rodriguez was from a simple jockeying for position play and both players were slapped with technical fouls. The Boosters had an 85-78 lead at that time, which actually proved to be the last time that they had a firm grip of the contest.

From there, the Painters connected on timely triples, made some fastbreak layups and then bottled up Fajardo some more and forced the others to miss from close range as Rain or Shine won this one pulling away for a great psychological edge going into Saturday’s Game 3.

“June Mar really is the focal point of their offense and we have to play him physical underneath,” Guiao said. “He must understand that he’s going to get the brunt of the physicality of the game.”

The Rain or Shine defense was unforgiving all night, but what pulled out the win for the Painters was the manner in which they finished the game on the offensive end of the floor.

Rain or Shine scored 36 points in the fourth period, interestingly enough, 10 of them coming from Almazan, a 6-foot-7 rookie out of Letran College who even drained a triple during the game’s most critical stages.

That shot put the Painters within 90-91 heading into the final five minutes and the Boosters would be held down to only three points the rest of the way with Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood and Jeff Chan joining the scoring.

Norwood had a triple of his own before that crucial Almazan basket and then two free throws at the 3:35 mark that ushered the Painters to a 95-91 lead.

“Two-zero is a nice place to be at this point, but we still can’t celebrate,” Guiao said. “We still need to win two more games.”

Fajardo still led the Boosters with 20 points and bled hard for his nine rebounds – way off his average of more than 15 a night – with Alex Cabagnot adding 17 .

The other Final Four pairing that is a certified box-office draw has San Mig Coffee leading Barangay Ginebra, 1-0, after a high-wire 85-83 win Tuesday night.

Mark Barroca had just one field goal that night, and it was all that the Mixers needed to nip the Gin Kings in a game that was played in spurts as San Mig won the much-coveted opportunity to set the pace.

Barroca hit an 18-foot jumper under pressure from LA Tenorio with just over 11 seconds remaining before the San Mig defense sealed the deal on the other end.

The Mixers actually trailed by nine points going into the fourth quarter before blowing an 80-75 lead heading into the final four minutes only to finish with four unanswered points inside the last 32 seconds.

“It can’t get any better than that,” San Mig coach Tim Cone said of the wild finish. “There’s no feeling of comfort after winning Game 1, but it does give you an opportunity to dictate the series.

Game 2 is set Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.