MANILA: Up against a veterans-laden squad, Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao tossed his young players into the fire and accomplished two things.

Playing his rookies extensively Sunday night, Guiao steered his Elasto Painters to a 91-83 decision of Barako Bull that got Rain or Shine back on the winning track in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

“We considered it (game) a learning experience,” Guiao said after bouncing back from their first loss of the season and improving to 3-1 overall while dealing the Energy their first defeat in three games.

“We wanted to give our rookies the chance to guard great players like Willie Miller,” Guiao said as he threw in Jeric Teng and Alex Nuyles to try and stop the former two-time MVP, who got away with 23 points – his best game of the season.

“We survived a great game by Willie Miller. He shot 70% from two-point zone and that is plain fantastic,” Guiao said. “We had a hard time with individual plays (by the Energy) but we got the win anyway.”

TY Tang scored nine points in the first quarter and got the Rain or Shine offense humming early and four more players tossed in twin digits for the Painters, whose only setback came at the hands of joint early leader Barangay Ginebra last week.

JR Quinahan fired 13 points, Jeff Chan contributed 11 and Paul Lee and rookie Jeric Teng, the 12th overall pick, had 10 points while having Miller as a defensive assignment for most of the night.

Raymond Almazan, the reedy 6-foot-7 former Letran stalwart in the NCAA who was the third pick overall in the last Draft, was steady for Guiao for the second straight game, shooting eight points that went with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Almazan, who ended his collegiate career with the Knights by winning the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards in the recent NCAA season, is playing with the form and confidence far from the player that showed up two weeks ago and went scoreless in 14 minutes.

Miller, who won the MVP while playing for Guiao and Red Bull and then later on with Talk ‘N Text, ran rings around Teng and later on Alex Nuyles and kept the Energy in the game.

The three-point shooting of the Energy also helped keep them within striking distance, though the Painters led from start to finish despite giving up 10 triple conversions.

“We still couldn’t stop their three-point shooting even after we prepared hard for them,” Guiao added. “We were challenging those shots all night but they still found ways to make them.”

Earlier, San Mig Coffee was without former two-time MVP James Yap, but the Mixers finally found ways to gut out a win, surviving Air21, 92-83, in double overtime.

It was also a rookie that carried the fight for the Mixers in the second extension as Ian Sangalang, the second overall pick behind Greg Slaughter of Barangay Ginebra, scored eight points while frolicking with the exit of Asi Taulava because of fouls.

The Mixers won for the first time in four tries and kept the luckless Express winless also in four games.

Sangalang, also a former NCAA MVP while with San Sebastian, finished with 14 points with Marc Barroca leading the Mixers with 19 points. Marc Pingris and Rafi Reavis had double-doubles, combining for 30 points and 27 rebounds.

Yap, who has also been struggling offensively since the last season, sat it out because of a hyper-extended right elbow. The Mixers, though, played Peter June Simon for the first time this season.

Simon, a former All-Star MVP, scored 11 points after coming back from a bruised Achilles tendon.

“We just needed the win, that’s the bottom line. We don’t care if it’s an ugly win, or a beautiful win. We’ll take any win,” said San Mig coach Tim Cone. “When you are desperate, you will take any win. We just need to try to get ourselves going.”

Alex Mallari, Cone’s left-handed point guard, had 12 points, including the tying jumper with 4.9 seconds left for the first overtime at 69-all.

Nino Canaleta, who scored 20 points for the Express, forged the second overtime with three free throws off a foul by Rafi Reavis with three-tenths of a second left for 79-all.