The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters survived an atrocious shooting night to claim a 90-84 win over the Converge FiberXers and take the solo lead in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup on Sunday, December 7.

The Elasto Painters got off to a slow start and made just seven of their 38 attempts from long range at the Ynares Center in Montalban, but they did enough on the defensive end to get past the FiberXers.

Santi Santillan (16 points, nine rebounds) and Gian Mamuyac (15 points, six rebounds) led the way for Rain or Shine, which improved to 7-2 — good enough for the No. 1 spot in the league standings.

The Elasto Painters erased an early 12-point deficit and turned the game into a back-and-forth affair in the final quarter.

Converge took its last lead off a Larry Muyang layup with over eight minutes left, only for ROS to respond with a 9-0 blast that put them in control, 83-75.

The Elasto Painters held on from there, with a huge triple by Mamuyac with 2:35 to go serving as the dagger, 90-81.

Squandered in the loss was a huge 10-point, 21-rebound game by Converge center Justine Baltazar.

Rookie guard Juan Gomez de Liaño had 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists, but he was kept in check down the stretch by the Rain or Shine defense.

The FiberXers also missed Justin Arana due to injury, but Muyang filled in for their big man with 18 points and nine boards.

Converge dropped to 6-3, tied with the Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots and the NLEX Road Warriors for the third to fifth spots. (ABS-CBN News)