Stanley Pringle, in a manner of speaking, won the game for GlobalPort on Friday night by shoving it in the face of Rain or Shine.

The 6-foot sophomore point guard drove to the heart of the Elasto Painters’ defense before nailing the game-winning layup off a Rain or Shine triple team, with a 113-111 victory giving the Batang Pier a piece of the PBA Philippine Cup lead at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

Pringle hit the game-winner over the outstretched arms of burly Beau Belga, defensive ace Jireh Ibanes and the 6-foot-7 Raymond Almazan as the Batang Pier notched a third straight victory to claim a piece of the lead with the Painters and idle Alaska and defending champion San Miguel Beer at 3-1.

The loss was the first for the Painters, who still played without Paul Lee but battled the Batang Pier on even terms.

Rain or Shine, through two Belga free throws with 14 seconds remaining, tied it up at 111 only for its defense to fail to stop Pringle.

“The will of the players to win was evident in this game,” Globalport coach Pido Jarencio said after sealing the longest winning streak of his career as a PBA coach. “We were also able to hold our own defensively against them (Painters).”

Jeff Chan’s running fallaway jumper from deep left corner was just a tad to the right at the buzzer, sealing the end of Rain or Shine’s impressive three-game winning streak pounded out despite the absence of the superstar Lee.

Terrence Romeo scored 25 points, Keith Jensen added 21 and two others finished in twin digits for Jarencio even as Belga paced the Painters with 23 and Chan wound up with 17.

Mahindra, with Manny Pacquiao again busy with other things, finally hit pay dirt earlier by claiming a big victim in NLEX, 103-93.

Kyle Pascual, Mahindra’s soft-spoken center, Aldrech Ramos and KG Canaleta scored 14 points each, dramatizing the Enforcer’s balanced effort in ending a three-game streak of heartbreaks.

Mahindra, with playing-coach Pacquiao not in the venue, started out hot, blew cold for a while before regaining its wits late in the third quarter to post the very convincing victory that left idle Meralco as the only winless team in the season-opening conference.

After opening up with two victories, the Road Warriors dropped their second straight game, and this one was uglier than the first after they trailed the Enforcers by as large as 17 points early and by 21 several times in the fourth period.

Ramos and Canaleta each scored seven points in the first period that had the Enforcers establishing command, and the rest that the Road Warriors could come to was within 60-66, late in the third.

But the Enforcers closed out with eight unanswered points and opened up the fourth with the same intensity to eventually take a 96-75 lead – the last of those 21-point bulges – made possible by an LA Revilla triple with 3:52 left.

Mark Yee was the fifth man in twin digits for the Enforcers with 11.

Revilla, the 5-foot-7 point guard out of La Salle who is the leader of Mahindra, finished with 13 despite playing with four fouls from the second quarter on.

NLEX had two bright performers in Asi Taulava and Sean Anthony but got little from the rest of the team.

The 6-foot-10 Taulava scored 31 points, a season-high for the 42-year-old veteran, while Anthony scattered 19, had 13 rebounds and seven assists in another sterling all-around effort.

Meanwhile, Talk ‘N Text shoots for a third straight victory today as action goes to Lucena in Quezon province for the Tropang Texters’ clash with rock-solid Star at the Quezon Convention Center.

Tip-off is at 5 p.m. with the Texters labeled as the slight picks by virtue of their overpowering performance against Meralco and the Hotshots inconsistent showing in a narrow win over the Road Warriors.

In that game, Talk ‘N Text played according to its powerhouse form with young turks Moala Tautuaa, Troy Rosario and Matt Ganuelas-Rosser helping the veteran Jason Castro shoulder the scoring load with the continued absence of Ranidel de Ocampo.