Arizona Reid of Rain or Shine (light) vs Sean Anthony of Air21 (dark). NUKI SABIO/PBA
MANILA, Philippines — Arizona Reid set the tone and Rain or Shine never trailed in a 111-90 win over Air21 to make the semifinals of the 2014 PBA Governors’ Cup Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Reid had a perfect first half — scoring 22 of his 30 points in the first two quarters — to help the red-hot Elasto Painters, winners of six straight games, get their lead back to double-digits after the Express went on a run.
“We were carried by our winning momentum I guess. First time we played Air21 and we lost to them and since then we’ve been playing really well,” ROS head coach Yeng Guiao told reporters. “We were ready to play all the way through a hard end-game but surprisingly, we were surprised also that we were able to breakaway.”
“AZ (Reid) has been consistent on both ends, he’s one of the shortest import and you can rely on him on defense, scoring and rebounding. He’s been all around. He’s a lot better this year perhaps. He’s more matured and a lot consistent on his outside shot. He’s a little bigger with his body,” Guiao said of the former Best Import.
Paul Lee added 14 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter. Lee hit back-to-back triples that snuffed Air21’s comeback bid in the fourth period as he stretched ROS’ lead back to 18, 103-85, with 3:41 left.
The Painters shot 56 % from the field and made 14 out of their 31 attempts from long range.
ROS will take on either Alaska or Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the semis.
“That’s our objective, to be consistent on the Final Four. That really is a big accomplishment for us. We’re not the high-profile or big-spending teams but we get in the playoffs or in the semis quite often and to me it’s a big personal accomplishment and an accomplishment of the organization,” Guiao added.
Dominique Sutton had 35 points while Eloy Poligrates added 18 points for the Express.
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