Despite early foul troubles, Sol Mercado sizzled for 28 points to lead the last-seed Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to a pulsating 99-84 conquest of the seventh seed Coca-Cola Tigers Wednesday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City in the knockout wildcard match of the 2009-2010 KFC PBA Philippine Cup. Rain or Shine thus arranged a quarterfinals best-of-five duel with the Purefoods TJ Giants beginning this Friday. The other quarters pairing will see the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters tangling with the Barangay Ginebra Kings also on Friday. Waiting on the wings are early semifinal round qualifiers Alaska Aces and San Miguel Beermen. On Wednesday, the Tigers had no answer for Mercado who was too fast, too slippery and too hot for his defenders as he scored practically from all angles. He also had eight assists and two steals. Mercado, averaging 26.5 points in Rain or Shine's last two games, also guided his team to victory against the Sta. Lucia Realtors in the opening round of the wildcard round last Sunday. He had 21 points, four rebounds and three assists in that game. Before that, he scored a career-high 35 points as the Painters lost by just a point to the top seed Alaska Aces, 94-95. Taulava had another solid game on Wednesday, scoring 18 points and grabbing 19 rebounds, but his singular efforts were not enough for the Tigers to subdue a young, athletic and suddenly deadly Rain or Shine squad. The loss thus snapped Coca-Cola's four-game winning streak. Gabe Norwood, Eddie Laure, Jeff Chan and Mike Hrabak also shone for Painters who unleashed an 11-0 run, including back-to-back triples from Mercado, at the start of the fourth quarter to establish a commanding 80-64 lead. Coca-Cola never recovered from that lethal blow. Mercado was earlier saddled with foul troubles, forcing Rain or Shine head coach Caloy Garcia to bench him for most parts of the third quarter. Coca-Cola took advantage of the situation to regain the lead 57-56. But this proved to be the Tigers' last hurrah as Mercado was sent back to the court to once again carry the Painters' offensive sock. Rain or Shine and Coca-Cola had split their two-game elimination round matches. The Painters won their initial meeting, 92-84, last Nov. 25. The Tigers avenged the loss with a 105-83 win last Jan. 15. Prior to Wednesday's game, pundits favored Coca-Cola to prevail over Rain or Shine with Taulava and Dennis Espino posing matchup problems for the Painters at the paint. Morever, Coke had acquired the services of the sweet-shooting Gary David from the Burger King Whoppers. However, Mercado stepped up big time for Rain or Shine, negating Coca-Cola's height and heft advantage. “He (Mercado) stepped up big for us. He is peaking at the right time and trying to get everyone involved,” said Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia before Wednesday's game. __
