Cola Tigers allowed a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter to be slashed to just four points with still two minutes left in the game but still had enough spunk to boot out the Burger King Whoppers, 118-112, Sunday night in the sudden-death wildcard phase of the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City. Mark Macapagal led the Tigers with 22 points, draining most of them in the first half. Gary David played his best game so far for Coca-Cola, pouring in 21 points against his former team. In the other wildcard pairing, Jeff Chan buried two killer triples late in the fourth quarter to power the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to a 90-86 win against the Sta. Lucia Realtors. It was sweet revenge for the Painters as they lost their two classification round matches against the Realtors in this conference. Rain or Shine will thus collide with Coca-Cola Wednesday for the last quarterfinals slot. Sol Mercado led the Painters with 18 points, 14 of them in the second and third quarters. Ryan Arana had13 points and five assists while Mark Telan chipped in nine points spiced with three shotblocks. The loss was bitter for the Realtors who had the best win-loss slate among the wildcard entries and were just a win away for a playoff for an outright quarterfinals berth. It was the first time since the 2008 Fiesta Conference that the ninth seed eliminated the No. 6-ranked squad in the wildcard. Ironically, Sta. Lucia, the ninth seed at that time, eliminated the sixth-seed Alaska. But on Sunday the Painters appeared more determined than the Realtors in staying alive as they repulsed repeated rallies by the Realtors. Sta. Lucia even took a 73-69 lead at the start of the fourth quarter after three successive three-pointers by Josh Urbiztondo. But the Painters came back to tie the score at 74-all on a triple by Mike Hrabak with 5:59 left. Urbiztondo then drilled another three-pointer to take the lead once again for Sta. Lucia. But that proved to be the Realtors' last hurrah as they suddenly lost their bearing.
