E-Painters blast Kings; E-Cola alive

MANILA, Philippines - Rain or Shine shifted to high gear in the second half to blast Barangay Ginebra, 117-108, and gain a share of fourth in the PLDT Home Telpad PBA Governors’ Cup last night at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan, Laguna.

The Elasto Painters unleashed a 16-2 run in the pivotal third to pull away and post their third straight victory for a 4-3 overall card, boosting their bid for the Top 4 in the quarterfinals.

Rain or Shine thus caught up with San Miguel Beer and closed to within half a game behind the Gin Kings (4-2), Air 21 Express (4-2) and San Mig Coffee (4-2) and one win off quarterfinalist Talk n Text (5-1).

Jeff Chan, Beau Belga and Az Reid joined forces in a big run that put the Elasto Painters on top, 69-61. Paul Lee then poured 12 of his 24 points, also in the third period for an 83-73 bulge that they later stretched to 94-77.

Ginebra rallied to within six at 102-108 but Lee fired a trey off the glass to put some more distance after which Reid went to work for the finishing touches.

Reid finished with 31 points while Lee had 24 and Chan and Belga added 18 and 12, respectively.

Z Mason paced Ginebra with 25 while Greg Slaughter contributed 20 as the crowd favorites fell to their second loss in their last three games.

Earlier, Allen Durham made a bullish debut in the PBA, marking his entry with a triple-double performance as he towed Barako Bull to a 122-98 rout of GlobalPort.

Durham, who replaced Eric Wise, banged in 32 points, hauled down 24 rebounds and issued 10 assists in a scintillating maiden appearance that propelled the Energy Cola to their second win in seven outings and kept their drive for the Last-8 going.

Barako tied Meralco for eighth spot while dropping the Batang Pier to the cellar at 1-6, in danger of bowing out.

The 6-foot-4 Durham totally outplayed GlobalPort counterpart Dior Lowhorn, who  coughed up  17 markers and nine boards. Lowhorn actually made nine in the first quarter but went quiet until he shot eight in the last nine minutes when the game was beyond reach.

Energized by Durham’s exploits, Barako Bull stormed to an early 31-10 tear. The Batang Pier managed to go to within six at 35-41 behind a 15-3 blast to start the second period but the Energy Cola quickly restored order and pulled away anew, 59-47 at the turn.

Barako mercilessly pounded on GlobalPort the rest of the way and held their largest lead at 113-79 on a triple by Denok Miranda, 5:50 left.