Rain or Shine’s (RoS) bench mob made it happen as the relievers put up a great supporting effort in a 97-85 Game 4 rout of Barangay Ginebra to level the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals series Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Elasto Painters got 48 bench points with Christian Manaytay and Adrian Nocum leading the second stringers in a mighty bounce back for a 2-2 tie in the best-of-seven showdown.  

“This is what we want — to prolong the series. The longer the series, the more chances it will give us, maybe just a chance. I feel our longer rotation… our bench can help out if we could extend this to six or seven games,” Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao said.

“Our (longer) rotation will give us a lot of help. I see that as our advantage. We’re just trying to prolong the series. Our bench stepped up,” added Guiao, who had some heated words against Kings governor Alfrancis Chua during the first half and after the game was concluded. 

Manaytay and Nocum scored 11 points each off the bench. Import Jaylen Johnson finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds on top of four assists, Gian Mamuyac added 12 markers and Jhonard Clarito submitted 11 points for the Elasto Painters.

Rain or Shine will try to take the lead in the crucial Game 5 on Friday at the same Cubao venue.

The Elasto Painters made it rain from downtown in the first half, connecting nine triples and building a sizeable lead that kept Ginebra at bay.

Clarito gave the Rain or Shine its biggest lead of the game at 26 after a split from the foul line for a 58-32 count with 2:31 left before the intermission.   

Ginebra had a sour shooting from the outside in 5-of-23 three-point shooting.

Justin Brownlee led the Kings with 27 points and 10 boards, Scottie Thompson had 20 markers and Japeth Aguilar had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds in a losing cause.