MANILA — The San Miguel Beermen snapped a two-game losing skid, finally barging into the win column with a 104-91 thrashing of 2015 Commissioner's Cup finalist Rain or Shine Elasto Painters Tuesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena. Fully recovered from a stomach affliction that greatly reduced his effectiveness in his team's last two games, import Arizona Reid returned with fire in his belly, churning 36 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in 43 minutes of nearly non-stop action on the court. Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo added 22 points and six rebounds. Marcio Lassiter and Alex Cabagnot chipped in with 9 points apiece. The Beermen shot an impressive 43.7 percent from the field (38 of 87) while holding the Painters to a 38.8 shooting clip (31 of 80). Import Wendell McKines led ROS with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Lee came off the bench to contribute 17 markers and six rebounds. Gabe Norwood and JR Quinahan added 12 points apiece while rookie Jericho Cruz chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds. GlobalPort 91, Star 89 The GlobalPort Batang Pier nailed their first victory over the Purefoods franchise after nine games between the two teams, beating the franchise's latest brand, last season's Grand Slam champion Star Hotshots, 91-89. More important, GlobalPort grabbed solo leadership of the conference with its third straight win, its best start since joining the PBA in 2012. Palestinian import Omar Krayem scored a team-high 20 points, 17 of them in the second half including eight in a 14-4 GlobalPort run in the fourth quarter run that enabled the Batang Pier to seize control of the game. The six-footer Krayem hit 4-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc and 8-of-12 overall for an impressive 66 percent shooting clip from the field. Top GlobalPort gunner Terrence Romeo posted 17 points, including a putback off a miss by Doug Kramer that shattered an 87-all deadlock. Hotshot rookie Stanley Pringle also starred for the Batang Pier, coming off the bench to score 15, the last one on a step-back jumper that gave GlobalPort a 91-87 lead with just 12 seconds left. GlobalPort's new interim import, Steve Thomas, who replaced Patrick O'Bryant, finished with 12 points, 16 rebounds and six assists in his first game in the PBA. Thomas is expected to be replaced by GlobalPort's first choice import Jarrid Famous next week. The Hotshots, who absorbed their first loss in two games, were led by Marqus Blakely, who filled the stats sheet with 19 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, three steals and four blocks. James Yap added 12 points while Alex Mallari and Peter Jun Simon chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively. After the game, an angry Star coach Tim Cone went straight to PBA Commissioner Chito Salud to complain about the referees' decision to give possession to GlobalPort during the last seconds of the game. Games Wednesday: Meralco Bolts vs. NLEX Road Warriors; Kia Carnival vs. Barangay Ginebra Kings.
