Beau Belga picked the right time to provide the spark Rain or Shine needed last night to ignite the Elasto Painters to a 99-86 win over the Meralco Bolts in the PBA Governors Cup semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The burly center hit two triples, sandwiching a rare four-point play by Ronjay Buenafe and made up a 10-2 surge from a 72-74 deficit that awakened Rain or Shine.

Buenafe, Jamelle Cornley and Paul Lee also got into the act and the E-Painters wasted no time in zooming to a 96-82 lead and into the win that was their first in the semis and ninth in 11 games in all.

That assured the E-Painters of at least a playoff spot for a finals seat, although Guiao said they will go for more wins in their last three games to make everything formal.

"I think the magic number is still 10. We have three chances to make 10 but I'm really hoping we get that as soon as we can," said Guiao.

Meralco needed a win that would bounce it back from a 76-89 loss to Barangay Ginebra last Friday and keep alive its hopes of playing off for the last finals berth through the incentive given to a team that wins four of its five semis games.

Yet the Bolts simply got swallowed up by the E-Painters' fiery endgame drive as they dropped out of the race with a 4-7 slate overall.

Cornley wound up with 21 points and a game-high 14 rebounds while Lee added 16, including six straight that made it a 99-84 game, only 65 ticks left.

Buenafe added 10 points while Belga had eight points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Despite a leech-like defense anchored on Jireh Ibanes, Mario West still wound up with a game-high 33 points, including 20 in the second half.

Macmac Cardona, Chris Ross and JayR Reyes chipped in at least 11 points each, but Meralco was still badly outscored 15-31 in the fourth period.

Guiao was thrown out after incurring two straight technicals off his vehement protestations of a non-call, just 2.9 seconds left in the half. He was contending a foul should have been called on either Ross or Cardona who were double-teaming Lee and caused the latter to lose the ball.

"It happened in front of the referee, who was just three or four feet away, and an obvious foul was not called," related Guiao. "If that's not a foul, nothing is a foul."

It was Guiao's second ejection but he also said he is supporting PBA commissioner Chito Salud's move to investigate the league referees and protect the PBA public from bad officiating in the aftermath of the Don Carlos Allado incident.

“Wala akong Twitter (account) pero maglalagay na ako," he joked, before turning more serious. "In view of all things, we really need to tighten up on the competence of the referees."

With assistant Caloy Garcia taking over, Rain or Shine still struggled and even ceded the lead in the third period and went into the fourth with a 68-71 deficit.

Guiao was not at all worried. "This team is used to winning without me," he said.

Then came Belga to the rescue, putting the bitter memories of an 88-90 loss to Petron Blaze last Friday behind the E-Painters.*pba.com

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Three-way tie in Balbina Cup 2001
Rain or Shine eliminates Meralco