Arizona Reid of Rain or Shine (dark) vs James Cena and KG Canaleta of Air21 (light).
MANILA, Philippines – Rain or Shine reminded the league of its status as defending champion following a 109-95 win over Air21 in the 2013 PBA Governors’ Cup Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Stocky import Arizona Reid imposed his will especially in the second half with 24 of his 39 coming in the last two quarters to help the Elasto Painters stop their two-game slide for a 3-2 record.
“This is a big game for us coming back from two bad losses. For the meantime it stopped the bleeding for us, “said ROS head coach Yeng Guiao.
“It’s important because losing the game would have meant trying to survive and winning would have meant getting back into contention,” Guiao added.
It was just a six-point game in favor of the Elasto Painters, 91-85, on a three-pointer from Mike Cortez with still 6:52 remaining before the Painters turned to Reid.
Reid, who also hauled down 19 rebounds and dished out four assists, delivered down the stretch – easily producing points for ROS – including eight straight that pushed his team’s lead back to double-digits, 105-91.
Guard Paul Lee also starred for the Painters with 19 points on three-of-four shooting from long range to go along with three rebounds, six assists and three steals.
ROS’ other starting guard Ryan Araña chipped in with 14 points, nine in the third quarter.
“Defensively we did a good job on their import but a bad job against their locals especially KG (Canaleta). I think it cancelled out what the import didn’t do,” added Guiao.
The Painters shut Zach Graham down to his lowest scoring output with 18 points on five-of-16 shooting but allowed Niño Canaleta and Cortez to combine for 46 points.
Canaleta pumped in 25 points, highlighted by two emphatic one-handed dunks in the third quarter, while Cortez added 21 on a perfect five-of-five shooting from long range with seven rebounds and four assists.
The Express, whose defense let the Painters to shoot close to 51 percent, dropped to 1-4.