MANILA: For the second straight game, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao was far from impressed.

The only difference this time was, the Elasto Painters got by even if they were mediocre.

Rain or Shine was far from its best on Saturday afternoon, getting dragged into a tight stretch by Blackwater before prevailing, 95-90, to advance to the second phase of the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

And Guiao, never at a loss for words, knows exactly what his team’s fortunes will be if they come up with the same effort.

“If we want to make the semifinals, we have to play better than we did today,” Guiao told reporters after his Painters blew a 15-point third quarter lead against a team that was seeing action past the eliminations for the first time.

“We’re hoping we can prepare even harder for the next game and (have a) talk with the guys,” he went on. “If we keep playing like this, we might not make it to the next round (semifinals).”

Jeff Chan scored 17 points and JR Quinahan added 16, but the Painters still didn’t look like clear winners, especially against an enemy that rallied basically behind just one man, swingman Carlo Lastimosa.

Lastimosa has been on a tear lately, and even against the defense of Gabe Norwood practically the whole night, it was just like another day in the office for the former St. Benilde standout in the NCAA.

The 6-foot off-guard, a nephew of all-time great Jojo Lastimosa, shot 31 points in the final half, including 17 in the payoff frame as he almost singlehandedly lifted the Elite into taking this series to a deciding game.

Guiao was also thankful that Lastimosa took it upon himself in the second half.

“We were lucky he (Lastimosa) didn’t get enough support from his teammates,” Guiao said. “Blackwater played great, but one guy can’t beat a whole team.”

Rain or Shine also was without a killer instinct when it closed out the elimination round against NLEX, losing 106-111, to yield No. 1 playoff ranking to Alaska and be made to play in this two-phase quarterfinal.

“If we keep playing like this, we won’t make it to the next round,” Guiao said. “We need to prepare even harder for the next game.”

The next game for the Painters will be TNT, which also went through the proverbial wringer before making it past the Road Warriors, 90-88, in the second game.

That match will be played on Monday, with the winner to advance opposite San Miguel Beer, the No. 2 seed, in a best-of-seven Final Four series that starts on Jan. 4.

Troy Rosario, ably filling in vacancies created by the continued absence of Ranidel de Ocampo and fellow rookie Moala Tautuaa, scored 20 points, with Danny Seigle coming off the bench to contribute 17 for the Tropang Texters.

Rosario and Seigle hit crucial buckets inside the final three minutes to help put the Road Warriors away.

All told, there are only six teams left standing, with the Road Warriors, the Elite, the Hotshots and Barako Bull joining Meralco and Mahindra in the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra, just two nights after that Yuletide miracle over Star on Friday night, and GlobalPort slug it out in their second phase KO match on Sunday at 5 p.m. also at Mall of Asia Arena.

The survivor of the Ginebra-GlobalPort game will march on to face the Aces also in a race-to-four affair.