Rain or Shine took advantage of the absence of two big men from TNT to send their best-of-three series to a rubber match with a 121-113 win Sunday in a highly-physical Game 2 of the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

With Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser exiting in the first quarter after hurting his left knee and Jewel Ponferrada thrown out for two technicals and a flagrant foul on Jhonar Clarito midway through the third canto, the Elasto Painters turned to Clarito, Andrei Caracut, Adrian Nocum and Santi Santillan towards the endgame to level the series at 1-all.

The sudden death is set this week pending the result of the other quarters meeting between Meralco and NLEX being played as of press time.

‘The best thing that happened to us was that we’re able to recover. They led us a couple of times but I think what’s important for us is to learn how to get back if the other team gets a run.’

Clarito had the hottest hands nailing his first nine shots to finish with 10-of-12 field goals including 5-of-5 from the outside for a career-high 29 points while adding seven rebounds and four assists for Rain or Shine.

Trailing 109-111 with 2:52 left, Santillan sparked the decisive blitz followed by Clarito swishing in a trey, Nocum hitting a jumper and Caracut putting the lid on TNT’s coffin with a triple and a floater.

“The best thing that happened to us was that we’re able to recover. They led us a couple of times but I think what’s important for us is to learn how to get back if the other team gets a run,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said.

Caracut produced 21 points on six-of-nine shooting, Nocum and Santillan had 20 points each while Gian Mamuyac contributed key baskets in the fourth period despite getting into early foul trouble to finish with 12 points for the Elasto Painters, who shot 51-of-81 from the field and had 15 fast-break points.

Beau Belga continued to struggle offensively after leading Rain or Shine’s offense during the elims with just six points.

“We got a bit lucky after BGR went out and Glenn Khobuntin got into foul trouble. That’s really a rare opportunity for us. So we took advantage of it and good for us we scored on those situations,” Guiao said.

RR Pogoy led the Tropang Giga with 28 points, Jayson Castro added 17, Kim Aurin had 15 points while Khobuntin got 13 points and nine boards.

Kelly Williams had 11 while Calvin Oftana, who had 32 points in Game 1, only had 11 on three-of-14 shooting.

TNT took the series opener, 116-99, last Friday in a game that saw the Tropang Giga take away the running game of the Elasto Painters.

However, Rain or Shine regained its bread-and-butter transition offense, scoring 13 fast-break points in the first half after a total of just four in the series opener.

The first two quarters turned into a battle of spurts with the Elasto Painters leading by seven in the early onset of the battle before TNT countered with a blistering run to take a 30-21 lead before the end of the opening frame.

Rain or Shine, behind Clarito’s sizzling scoring, momentarily regained the lead in the second quarter tug-of-war before Pogoy swished in a step-back trey to give the Tropang Giga a 64-62 lead at the half.