MANILA — The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters secured a playoff ticket, defeating the defending champion San Miguel Beer, 95-80, in the penultimate day of the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round Wednesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The E-Painters came out firing from the get-go before breaking the game wide open in the final period en route to their sixth win in 10 games, securing solo fourth place in the standings at the moment. The E-Painters will be back on the court for their final elimination round game against the Barangay Ginebra Kings (5-5) Friday.

SMB wound up with an 8-3 card, the same as Magnolia. However, the Beermen retained the top seeding by virtue of the winner over the other rule, having defeated the Hotshots in the elims. Both SMB and Magnolia will carry a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.

Beau Belga led the E-Painters with 19 points, including three triples, on top of seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals in 32 minutes. Jewel Ponferrada added 17 points, including 5 of 7 from three-point range, along with three rebounds and one block, without a turnover in less than 15 minutes off the bench. Mark Borboran and Gabe Norwood chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The E-Painters hardly missed the absence of injured players James Yap and Chris Tiu. Raymond Almazan also injured his hand and had to be benched after playing for less than three minutes. Making up for their absence was the return of Jay Washington from sickbay.

June Mar Fajardo paced SMB with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks in just 26 minutes in a losing effort. Marcio Lassiter added 17 markers. The loss spoiled the return of Alex Cabagnot who played his first game of the season after being sidelined by a foot injury. Cabagnot finished with 13 markers.

TNT KaTropa 101, NLEX 75

The TNT KaTropa Texters kept their playoff hopes alive by clobbering sister team NLEX Road Warriors, 101-75, on Wednesday night.

The Texters thus ended the elims with a 5-6 win-loss card, tying Blackwater at eighth to ninth spot in the standings.

The loss stalled NLEX’s bid for a Top 6 finish as the Road Warriors finished the elims with a 6-5 card, good for solo fifth at the moment. However, three other teams – Rain or Shine, Ginebra, and GlobalPort – could finish with the same card in the last elimination playdate Friday, complicating the seedings for the quarterfinals.

Kelly Williams and new recruit Jericho Cruz led the Texters with 17 points apiece. Williams added 16 rebounds and three steals. Debuting for TNT after getting traded by Rain or Shine for rookie Sidney Onwubere, Cruz drilled three triples and collected four assists, three rebounds, and two steals.

Gilas mainstays Troy Rosario, Roger Pogoy, and Jayson Castro also starred in the TNT win. Rosario finished with 14 points, Pogoy had 13, while Castro chipped in 10.

JR Quinahan led NLEX with 20 points while Kevin Alas added 14 points. Star rookie Kiefer Ravena was held to just one point after missing his three shots in just 12 minutes of play.

Games Friday: GlobalPort Batang Pier (5-5) vs. Phoenix Fuel Masters (4-6) and Barangay Ginebra Kings (5-5) vs. Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (6-4).