Arizona Reid of Rain or Shine (light) vs Cliff Hodge and Mario West of Meralco (dark). PBA IMAGE by Nuki Sabio
MANILA, Philippines–Sustaining its mean form, Rain or Shine won big for the third straight game Tuesday night, tearing Meralco apart in the second half for a 104-85 victory that put the Elasto Painters inside the top four of the PBA Governors’ Cup standings at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Arizona Reid scored 25 points and had 15 rebounds, and the Painters got their bench contributing as they notched their fourth straight win with big guns Paul Lee and Jeff Chan cooling their heels on the bench.
It was the fifth win in eight games for the Painters, who climbed to solo third in the leaderboard with still a game left, while the Bolts dropped to 2-6 and out of the playoff picture at the moment.
Rookie Raymond Almazan, the former NCAA MVP with Letran, was the biggest man—literally and figuratively—to come out of the Rain or Shine bench as he finished with 15 rebounds, 12 points and a night-high four blocks.
Barako Bull snapped Talk ‘N Text’s four-game winning streak, muddling up the race for No. 1 while fortifying its own playoff chances after an 88-74 win later in the night.
Allen Durham scored 28 points and Keith Jensen added 17 as the Energy won for the second straight game to improve to 3-5, good for solo eighth spot.
The Tropang Texters dropped to 5-2 and into a tie for the lead with Barangay Ginebra, with Rain or Shine just half a game behind.
The Painters will get the chance for what could be an outright twice-to-beat privilege against defending champion San Mig Coffee on Monday.
“We are just riding our momentum,” Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao said. “We are just playing good defense, and everyone is contributing. I just hope it’s not too late.”
Mario West paced the Bolts with 29 points and Cliff Hodge had 17 on a night that newly naturalized Filipino Andray Blatche, the Brooklyn Nets center, dropped by to watch his first PBA game.
THE SCORES:
First Game
RAIN OR SHINE 104—Reid 25, Almazan 12, Norwood 12, Belga 9, Tiu 9, Nuyles 6, Cruz 5, Arana 5, Lee 5, Uyloan 4, Chan 4, Rodriguez 4, Tang 3, Teng 1, Ibanes 0.
MERALCO 85—West 29, Hodge 17, Cortez 10, Ballesteros 7, David 7, Dillinger 7, Huganatan 6, Guevarra 2, Ildefonso 0, Caram 0, Salvacion 0.
Quarters: 20-23, 51-46, 71-63, 104-85
Second Game
BARAKO 88—Durham 28, Jensen 17, Miller 15, Fortuna 11, Miranda 6, Wilson 4, Intal 3, Isip 2, Custodio 2, Thiele 0, Najorda 0, Lastimosa 0, Marcelo 0, Pennisi 0.
TALK ‘N TEXT 74—Harris 22, De Ocampo 21, Castro 18, Canaleta 3, Williams 2, Reyes 2, Baclao 2, Carey 2, Alapag 2, Reyes 0, Fonacier 0.
Quarters: 15-19, 38-45, 60-61, 88-74