MANILA: Forget about hot starts in trying to get the job done, Rain or Shine also has the tools and the character to finish strong to win this one.

The Elasto Painters were more efficient in the stretch on Saturday night and outsteadied San Miguel Beer, carving out a 111-106 Game 3 victory to put their collective noses ahead of the Beermen in their PBA Philippine Cup Final Four series at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Beau Belga and Gabe Norwood made some big buckets in the stretch like Jericho Cruz for the Painters, who won a second straight game after surviving yet another monster effort by San Miguel cornerstone June Mar Fajardo for a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven playoffs.

Cruz, however, is now listed as doubtful for the rest of the series after landing badly and twisting his left knee in a hard play with Marcio Lassiter in the final five seconds.

Rain or Shine, in all likelihood, could be missing two key men the rest of the series after Raymond Almazan already was pronounced out of it because of a high ankle sprain suffered in practice on Friday afternoon.

The third game of the bruising series took a far different complexion than the first two, as Rain or Shine couldn’t establish an early big lead and actually trailed after the opening period for the first time.

Rain or Shine also entered the fourth behind by eight before clawing its way back and winning out in a scintillating endgame marked by a lot of long bombs from and steady free throw shooting by the Painters.

Cruz was taken out of the court on a stretcher and Chris Tiu came in to knock four straight free throws, the first two off a flagrant foul 1 called on Lassiter and the last pair coming off a duty foul by Chris Lutz which eventually rounded out scoring with 3.9 ticks to go.

“It was a very hard win for us and we had to pay a big price for it,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao told reporters as he lashed back at officiating yet again, accusing game officials of “babying” Fajardo.

“We’re hoping that the injury is not that serious, though it didn’t look good from our standpoint,” Guiao said.

Fajardo finished with 40 points and 20 rebounds and Guiao said that his numbers were the result of the San Miguel Beer franchise player getting the benefit of most of the calls.

“We’re lucky to win two straight games kahit sobrang alagang alaga nila (referees) si Fajardo,” Guiao said. “They’re calling too many touch fouls on us. I am very confused at the way they (referees) are calling it.

“I really don’t know what a foul is and what is not,” Guiao went on.

San Miguel was in the lead for the last time at 98-96 after a Lassiter triple with 4:35 left, before Cruz and Belga hit consecutive treys and Norwood capped an 11-3 spurt with a three-point play off a spectacular left handed reverse off Fajardo, 107-101, going into the final 1:56.

Lassiter actually hit three straight triples, the last coming with 1:30 to go before Fajardo made a short jumper with 54.3 left that made it 107-106, only for the Beermen to go scoreless the rest of the way.

Coach Leo Austria, who admitted to being lucky after coming back from 20 points down at the start of the fourth quarter of Game 1 on Tuesday to win, 109-105, blasted his players in the press room for losing this one.

“They (Beermen) are under-estimating me.” Austria said. “They think I am too soft. We will see (in the next game). I am willing to (put my job on the line).”

Lassiter finished with 22 points, while seven Rain or Shine players, led by the 18 of superstar point guard Paul Lee, finished in twin digits.

Lee, playing just his third game of the season, carried the Painters in the third period and was an effective decoy in the stretch.

Belga chipped in with 14 points and 14 rebounds and was adjudged the game’s Best Player. Game 4 is slated on Monday also at the Big Dome even as Alaska guns for a commanding 3-1 lead over Terrence Romeo and GlobalPort at 5 p.m. Sunday.

The Aces have also won the last two games of the series by shutting down the relentless GlobalPort offense, giving up just an average of 72.5 points in the last two games after the Batang Pier had scored 107 in Game 1.

Alaska’s defense has also slowed down Romeo, who hit just 18.5 points per game the last two games after shooting a career-high 41 on Monday.