Arizona Reid took it upon himself to lead the Rain or Shine to a much-needed win as the Elasto Painters blasted the Air21 Express, 109-95, last night at the 38th PBA Governors’ Cup in the Mall of Asia Arena.
Reid displayed the form that netted him the Best Import title in the same conference last season, firing a game-high 39 points and hauling down 19 rebounds.
In the second game, another import put up a sterling performance as Elijah Millsap scored 31 points to lead the Petron Blaze Boosters to an 89-83 win over San Mig Coffee.
Millsap also had 16 rebounds, six assists and six steals as the Boosters logged their fourth straight victory and remained on top of the standings with a 4-1 (win-loss) card.
Meanwhile, Reid’s monster game helped the Painters arrest a two-game slide, as they tallied their third win in five games in the season-ending tournament.
Starting the tournament with back-to-back wins before losing the next two, the Painters were in control for most of the game, thanks to a hot 65 percent field goal shooting.
Reid led that impeccable offensive show as he made 27 of his 26 attempts from the field.
Reid got plenty of help from the locals with Paul Lee and Ryan Araña scoring 19 and 14 points, respectively. Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood and Jeff Chan each scored at least seven points.
With its import failing to get his game going, Air21 slumped to its third straight defeat to drop to 1-4.
Zach Graham had his lowest output in the league after he was limited to just 18 markers.
KG Canaleta and Mike Cortez tried to fill in the void but their 46 combined points proved inadequate to save the Air21.
Vic Manuel added 13 markers for the Express with 13 points, while Mark Isip contributed 10.
BOX SCORES:
RAIN OR SHINE (109)- Reid 39, Lee 19, Arana 14, Belga 9, Norwood 7,Chan 7, Cruz 4, Quinahan 4, Matias 2, Tang 2, Ibanes 2, Tiu 0, Rodriguez 0.
AIR21 (95)- Canaleta 25, Cortez 21, Graham 18, Manuel 13, Isip 10, Sharma 5, Sena 2, Custodio 1, Omolon 0, Arboleda 0.
QUARTERSCORES: 26-21, 52-47, 80-72, 109-95.