By Josiah Israel Albelda

For the Shopinas.com Clickers, that first win remained elusive.

The Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters had a hard time finishing off the Clickers but just had enough firepower to string together an 88-81 win in the PBA Philippine Cup Sunday afternoon at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With the loss, Shopinas.com tied Great Taste for the worst start in a conference by a PBA team set by the latter during the 1982 Reinforced Conference, and moved a loss away from setting its own record of futility.

Like in their previous defeats, the Clickers sleepwalked through some parts of the second and fourth quarters before mounting runs that ultimately fell short.

Jojo Duncil and RJ Jazul combined to give Shopinas.com a sizzling start, even leading by double-digits in the first quarter as fluid offense and rock-solid defense gave them a 27-19 advantage at the end of the opening canto.

Then again, the Clickers got the raw end of another incident as the Elasto Painters used the injury to star rookie Paul Lee as a rallying point to hold their foes to only five second-quarter points while scoring 22 of their own to bring a 42-32 lead at halftime.

Lee injured his shin after a collision with Ogie Menor in the first quarter.

A balanced Rain Or Shine attack in the third kept Shopinas.com at bay, even posting a 59-48 spread late in the third before a small run by the Clickers made it close at 62-58.

Then Ryan Araña, who blossomed under coach Franz Pumaren in La Salle, took over in the fourth.

With Ren Ren Ritualo proving slow-footed against him, Araña tored the Shopinas.com captain’s defense to shreds time and again to help the Painters hike their lead to 83-72, with only a little over two minutes left in the ball game.

“It’s just nice to break out of the losing streak,” coach Yeng Guiao told reporters after the game. “Although I’m not happy with the effort.”

Duncil sparkled with his best output of his career with 23 points while Jazul scorched early to finish with 17 markers. James Sena added 11 for the Clickers.

On the other hand, Jeffrei Chan top scored for Rain Or Shine with 14 points followed by Araña and JR Quiñahan, who was thrown out of the game after a flagrant foul 2 in the third, with 12 points each.

The scores:

Rain or Shine (88) – Chan 14, Araña 12. Quiñahan 12, Matias 9, Norwood 9, Cruz 7, Tang 7, Belga 7, Rodriguez 7, Buenafe 4, Lee 0, Ibañes 0

Shopinas.com (81) – Duncil 23, Jazul 17, Sena 11, Hubalde 9, Espiritu 7, Ritualo 6, Menor 4, Sison 2, Daa 2, Escobal 0, Aquino 0, Se 0

Quarters: 19-27, 41-32, 61-55, 88-81