Rain Or Shine books first Comm Cup finals seat after rout of San Miguel

PBA

By Ivan Saldajeno

QUEZON CITY--Rain Or Shine put a tragic end to an encore of San Miguel's old "Petronovela" with a 124-99 rout in Game 4 of the PBA Commissioner's Cup semifinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday night.

The win effectively gave the Elasto Painters the series victory in the best-of-five affair with the Beermen and the first berth to the finals that could start either on Wednesday or Friday depending on the result of the Meralco-Alaska game on Monday night at the said venue. The Aces hold a 2-1 lead over the Bolts in their own best-of-five encounter.

Two night after their bid to sweep the semis was stalled by a barrage from an all-Filipino SMB squad, ROS banked on a 38-20 second quarter blast to pull away for good and put a quick end to returning SMB import AZ Reid's Commissioner's Cup campaign.

Paul Lee came off the bench to lead the E-Painters with 18 points, two rebounds, and five assists, while Pierre Henderson-Niles bounced back from a sluggish performance on Friday night and chipped in 15 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, one block, and four steals.

Reid, who was quickly summoned following the departure of Tyler Wilkerson, whose walkout right after Game 2 sparked a Renaldo Balkman-esque story inside the SMB camp during the past few days, wounded up with 25 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, and one steal.

Reid, who last played in the ABL for expansion franchise Pilipinas Kings, is expected to suit up for the season-ending Governors' Cup for the Beermen.

Box Scores:

Rain Or Shine 124-Lee 18, Henderson-Niles 15, Norwood 15, Tiu 13, Cruz 12, Almazan 10, Ahanmisi 9, Quinahan 8, Chan 6, Ponferada 5, Belga 4, Ibanes 3, Nimes 2, Teng 2, Trollano 2

San Miguel 99-Reid 25, Lassiter 20, Cabagnot 18, Fajardo 12, Espinas 6, Ross 6, Santos 6, David 5, De Ocampo 1, Arana 0, Heruela 0, Tubid 0

Quarterscores: 23-22, 61-42, 92-70, 124-99

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