Rain or Shine uses fiery 4th quarter run to beat Meralco

MANILA, Philippines — Rain or Shine unleashed 17 unanswered points in the bottom half of the fourth to stun Meralco, 91-82, Saturday night in the 2013 PBA Commissioner’s Cup road match in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

All it needed were three point buckets from Paul Lee, Ronnie Matias and Beau Belga to crack the game wide open, turning a five-point deficit to a 91-79 lead — the biggest of the game.

Ryan Araña, who led all locals from Rain or Shine, capped the blitz with a fastbreak lay-up with 59 ticks to go and put the outcome beyond doubt.

Lee, who struggled from the field most of the game and finished with just nine points, nailed the trey that Elastopainters the lead for good with 3:12 to play.

Import Bruno Sundov also pitched in 20 points.

Rain or Shine notched its first win of the conference after an opening game setback to Alaska, even sans gunner Jeff Chan, who is sidelined by injury.

The Bolts, meanwhile, have lost second straight since an impressive opening win over Talk N’ Text.

Eric Dawson finished with 23 points, but was scoreless in the final five minutes of the game just as Mac Cardona struggled in the fourth but still had 21.