BY NOLI CORTEZ

ITS rookies may be the foundations on which Rain or Shine’s future campaigns are to be built, but they are already showing they are all ready to deliver. Right here, right now.

Deserving special mention were Gabe Norwood and Solomon Mercado, who each hit a triple at crunchtime and propped the Elasto Painters to a 96-90 win over erstwhile perennial nemesis Red Bull last night in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Astrodome.

It was the second straight win for Rain or Shine, made extra special by the fact it was its first over a team it has not beaten the past two seasons.

It also put the usual tail-ender in a very unfamiliar position: That of co-leader with idle Talk N Text, 112-101 winner over Air21 last Thursday, and Purefoods, should it prevail over San Miguel Beer later last night.

All because of Norwood and Mercado, who provided the team with the poise after the Elasto Painters almost blew as much as a 24-point lead and found themselves threatened at 84-87.

"For our rookies to show such composure in the last quarter, the way they played, is really something. Hats-off talaga ako sa kanila," said winning coach Caloy Garcia.

"This is a morale-boosting win for us, but I also keep reminding the boys to have fun out there," added Garcia.

Ryan Arana wound up with a team-high 15 points with rookie Tyrone Tang, Jayr Reyes and veteran Rob Wainwright chipping in 13 points each.

But it was Mercado and Norwood who shone the most. Both finished with 11 points with the latter, the top overall pick, adding a team-high 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

They also came up with the back-breaking triples that jacked Rain or Shine’s lead to 93-86 that proved safe enough going into the last 1:20 of play.

Aside from losing to the Asian Coatings franchise for the first time, Red Bull also fell to a 0-2 win-loss start for the first time since the 2004-05 edition of the tournament, when it wound up dead-last.

The Bulls suffered an initial 73-77 loss to Purefoods last Wednesday when they blew a 16-point third quarter lead.

The circumstances were different last night as the Photokina franchise rallied back from a 27-51 second quarter deficit.

By going 5-of-5 from beyond the arc Celino Cruz scored all of his team-high 17 points in the fourth, almost single-handedly leading the Bulls back to within 74-76.