BY NOLI CORTEZ

RAIN or Shine knew it could only beat Alaska at its own game, which is defense. A little offense didn’t hurt either.

The Elasto Painters drew some timely hits when needed most to leave the Aces blue 92-88 last night in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Center Jay-R Reyes scored 24 points and surprisingly went a perfect 5-of-5 from beyond the arc to highlight Rain or Shine’s explosion for 12 triples that left usually unflappable Alaska hard-pressed just to keep up with.

Allan Salangsang drained three treys and Rob Wainwright and Gabe Norwood each had two, but the latter’s last was the game’s biggest, giving the Elasto Painters a 90-83 spread in the last 61 seconds.

"Gabe hit that big shot and I knew we had it," said Rain or Shine coach Caloy Garcia. "Some people say he’s soft, but he’s more of a finesse player who is ready to step up big-time when the game is on the line and he brought us this win."

Solomon Mercado virtually secured the win with two free throws that pegged the final score in the last 11 seconds, before Norwood sealed it by tapping the inbound pass from Alaska’s Joe Devance and Mercado recovering.

The victory, the Elasto Painters’ first in 10 total meetings with Alaska since the Asian Coatings franchise entered the league in 2006, improved its win-loss slate to 6-5.

That enabled Garcia to tie the 10 total number of wins posted by his predecessor, Leo Austria, who handled the team in its first three PBA conferences.

"I think with this win we became more confident that we can play hard," said Garcia, whose charges held Alaska to the output that is the Elasto Painters’ second-best defensive effort after previously beating Purefoods 88-84 in an overtime last Oct. 23.

For Garcia, the win is still his team’s biggest yet since Alaska was on a four-game roll and went into the game with a 7-2 record.

Now Alaska is left praying 7-3 San Miguel Beer loses to Sta. Lucia Realty later last night to remain all alone at the top.

The Aces’ bid to notch the Uytengsu franchise’s 700th win also has to wait.

For naught went the conference-high 29 points by Willie Miller. Three other Aces scored in double figures, including Devance, whose lone triple for the game made it an 88-90 game, still 14.9 ticks left.