Manila, Philippines - Arizona Reid lived up to his reputation as a workhorse in his debut as a Rain or Shine import, churning out huge double-double numbers to lead his team to a 95-82 rout of B-MEG at the start of the PBA Governors Cup at the Tacloban Convention Center in Tacloban, Leyte last night.
Reid, a former two-time Big South Conference Player of the Year, scored 36 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, giving the Elasto Painters tremendous boost as they nailed their first win on the road this season.
Gabe Norwood, Larry Rodriguez, Jeff Chan and Beau Belga provided the needed help as the Elasto Painters got off to a roaring start in the season-ending tourney.
The Llamados set the pace in the early goings but slowly faded away as they hardly got anything from import Stefhon Hannah in this Phoenix Fuel-sponsored road tussle.
The highly touted B-MEG import missed his first 16 field-goal attempts before converting his first basket midway through the third quarter. He added six garbage points towards the end.
Reid, on the other hand, amassed double-double numbers right in the first half, including the last five points in Rain or Shine’s eight-to-nothing closing run that gave the Elasto Painters a 44-31 spread at the turn.
The former High Point U standout collected 21 points and 10 rebounds in the first 24 minutes of play which was a nightmare for his B-MEG counterpart.
Hannah was 0-of-7 from the field in the first period and 0-of-6 in the next.
There was no turning back for Reid and his teammates after they pulled away from a 36-31 count in the last two minutes of the first half.
The Elasto Painters led by as many as 16, 91-75, on an 11-4 run capped by RJ Jazul with a three-pointer coming off the bench.
Norwood was one of three local RoS players who finished in double figures with the George Mason U alum highlighting his performance with a breakaway jam off his own steal on Joe Devance making it 84-71 with 5:56 left to play.
Devance, a transferee from Alaska, and James Yap carried the cudgels for the Llamados as they set the pace early on.
A three-point play by Norwood off Devance had the Elasto Painters tying the count at 19-all in the first period.