A fully charged Meralco shocked twice-to-beat Rain or Shine, 96-79, to force a rubber match in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup quarterfinals on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Relentless from the opening tip, the Bolts ran over the Elasto Painters with aggressive penetrations and precise outside shooting to create a 34-point separation in the second period that was enough to cushion Rain or Shine’s second-half fightback.

Jansen Rios swished in a cold-blooded three-pointer followed by Chris Newsome’s back-to-back baskets to extinguish any signs of resistance left from the Elasto Painters after closing in to just 12 with under three minutes left.

Meralco leveled the playing field in the showdown that got dragged into a do — or-die on Monday.

“Rain or Shine is a tough team. You look at them in the third quarter… it’s not gonna be easy for us,” Meralco coach Luigi Trillo said.

“We weren’t satisfied with the way that second half went. They kind of do well when they have those small lineups and were physical. They almost came back. We might won this game but there are a lot of things we have to clean up.”

Newsome led four other Bolts in double figures with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field he laced with six rebounds, three assists and a steal.

CJ Cansino added 14 markers and grabbed eight boards, Cliff Hodge got 14 points and Aaron Black finished with 12 markers for Meralco. Rios showed the way in the final period with his hustle plays that kept Rain or Shine at bay as he submitted 12 points, five rebounds and four steals.

Rain or Shine showed life in the second half and was able to trim down its deficit to 12 after Gabe Norwood split his charities for a 75-87 count with 2:57 left.

Rios answered with a trey before Newsome iced it with a layup and a jumper for a 7-0 counterattack.

Nocum, who was limited to just one point in first half, finished with 17 points while Gian Mamuyac scored 16 for the Elasto Painters, who saw the return of big man Luis Villegas from a year-long absence due to a knee injury.