Fil-Am Gabe Norwood’s buzzer-beating putback saved Rain or Shine against San Miguel Beer, 93-92, in a thrilling basketball encounter Wednesday night in the 2008-09 KFC-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Norwood's golden putback saved the Elasto Painters from a monumental collapse as they held off the Beermen’s grand rally late in the game.

Rain or Shine was under attack as San Miguel’s Dondon Hontiveros and Dorian Pena launched a rally that placed the Beermen ahead, 92-91, with just 2.6 seconds left.

Elasto Painters coach Caloy Garcia sued for a timeout and designed a play for Allan Salangsang who triggered a three-point bomber. 

But his heave missed the mark and luckily for the Elasto Painters, Norwood was right on place to deliver the magical tip in.

"This is what we call a lucky win," said Garcia as his team now improved to 10-7 for the second spot, boosting their chances for an automatic semis slot.

"We were on the brink of defeat but there's an angel out there who saved the night for us," Garcia added, referring to Norwood who was this year's No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

Norwood finished with only nine points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field but he came away with the most important basket of the game.

"God is good," said the former George Mason U standout. "I felt I was playing bad the whole game and didn't do something right. I had to do something to help my team. But I would never think it would be like this, with so much on the line."

Game officials had to review the last play for a couple of times and replay showed that ball was out of Norwood's hand with 0.1 left on the game clock.

"This is probably the most important shot I made," said Norwood. "Hopefully, we can get one more win on Christmas Day (against Barangay Ginebra)." 

The loss could be damaging for San Miguel's own bid for semis slot as it dropped to 9-8. The Beermen have now lost six of their last eight games.