Fading E-Painters show luster: Boosters ram Mixers, keep lead

Games today (MOA Arena)

4:15 p.m. – Talk n Text vs Globalport

6:30 p.m. – Alaska vs Ginebra

Standings            W            L

Petron  4              1

Barako Bull          3              1

Rain or Shine      3              2

Globalport          2              1

Meralco               2              2

Alaska   1              1

Ginebra                1              2

Talk n Text          1              2

San Mig Coffee 1              3

Air21      1              4

MANILA, Philippines - Petron Blaze leaned on a fiery windup to roll past San Mig Coffee, 89-83, and regain solo lead with a fourth straight win in the PBA Governors Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night.

Elijah Millsap, Ronald Tubid, Chris Lutz and Junmar Fajardo worked on a 17-12 closing romp as the Boosters hit the midpoint of their elims stint at 4-1.

Millsap, Tubid and Lutz outgunned James Yap and his teammates at the finish, thus handing the Mixers a third loss against a lone win.

“Our mindset was to protect our spot on top. It’s important for us to be in the Top Four going to the quarterfinals,” said Petron coach Gie Abanilla.

They’re in strong contention for the Top Four, precious seedings that will enjoy twice-to-beat advantage over the next four in the quarterfinal round.

Arizona Reid upstaged Zach Graham and Paul Lee made his presence felt in his return from a one-game layoff as Rain or Shine arrested its two-game slide, waylaying Air21, 109-95, earlier in the night.

Reid sparkled with 39 points, including 12 in the last five minutes, while Lee tossed in 19 as the Elasto Painters returned to the upper rung of the standings, above the .500 mark with a 3-2 win-loss slate.

“This is big coming from back-to-back bad losses. It’s important because losing would have meant we would try to survive. Winning means getting back into contention for the top spot,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.

“We’ve been in a shooting slump. My only advice was for the guys to keep working hard and fire away not thinking of the misses we’d incurred in previous games,” Guiao also said.

“Defensively, we did well on the import but not on the locals especially against KG (Canaleta). It’s good we shot a lot better today,” Guiao added.

Graham, the PBA scoring champ last season, was held down to 18 points as the Express absorbed a third straight loss and its fourth in five games in all.

Canaleta and Mike Cortez brought Air21 into the fight in the last quarter but the Express couldn’t keep up as Reid came through with one big shot after another in the last five minutes of play.