MANILA — Even without an import, a backup center, and its top local gunner, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters proved tougher than a squad oozing with individual talents. Winning their fourth straight game, the E-Painters foiled the upset hopes of the Barangay Ginebra Kings with a 96-93 win in the main game of Sunday's PBA Commissioner's Cup double-header at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Rain or Shine won despite missing the services of 7'3” Croatian import Bruno Sundov for most parts of the second half due to foul trouble, the fouling out of local big man JR Quinahan early in the fourth quarter, and the continued absence of Jeff Chan due to injury. Sundov eventually fouled out with 3:09 left, playing for just 24 minutes and scoring 12 points. Filling in for both Sundov and Quinahan, the 6'6” Beau Belga played his best game in the tournament, scoring 18 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and blocking two shots. Belga even made mincemeat of the defense put by by Ginebra's 6'10” import Vernon Macklin, scoring easy baskets after faking off the Ginebra giant. Belga held off the rallying Kings with four free throws in the homestretch. Paul Lee added two more charities to ice the win for Rain or Shine. The Painters improved to a 4-1 win-loss record as they stayed at solo third in the leaderboard behind idle Alaska (6-0) and Petron (5-1). The Kings suffered their fifth loss in six games, once again all by their lonesome selves at the bottom of the standings. In the first game, Renaldo Balkman exploded for 33 points to lead the Petron Blaze Boosters to their fifth straight win with a 91-78 victory over the Barako Bull Energy Cola. Balkman also had 14 rebounds, four assists, four steals, and one block. Arwind Santos added 14 points, while Jun Mar Fajardo and Ronald Tubid chipped in with 10 markers. Barako Bull suffered its second straight loss and fell to 3-3 in the standings, good for solo fourth in the standings. Import Evan Brock led the Energy Cola with 20 points while Danny Seigle contributed 17 points.
