MANILA: The Talk N Text Tropang Texters made known their determination to bag their third straight PBA title by routing the Alaska Aces, 101-75, Wednesday night in the PBA Governor's Cup. Ryan Reyes copped the Best Player of the Game award with his 16 points, 11 rebounds and four assists as TNT dominated Alaska from start to finish. Import Maurice Baker led the Texters with 17 points while five other players, including Reyes, scored in double figures. Cyrus Baguio led the Aces with 20 points while import Jason Forte had 16. Alaska sorely missed the scoring sock of Joe Devance whom it traded to Air21 for Jay-R Reyes. Devance was later sent by the Express to B-Meg in exchange for KG Canaleta and Jondan Salvador. In the curtain-raiser, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters vaulted into the solo lead, downing the Air21 Express, 116-94, for their second straight win in the season-ending tourney. Not known to be a shooter, burly center Beau Belga stunned the crowd by dishing out 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. He scored 16 of his points in the second half when the Painters exploded for 70 huge markers. Belga also had nine rebounds. It was another impressive win for the Painters who on Saturday demolished the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados, 95-82, in a road game in Tacloban City. Import Arizona Reid once again dominated the game, leading all scorers with 24 points. Jeff Chan chipped in 15 points, Ronjay Buenafe added 13 while Gabe Norwood had 12. The Painters survived a ferocious Express comeback when Air21 razed a 34-20 Rain or Shine lead with a scorching 21-0 blast to take the lead 41-34 halfway in the second quarter. That scoring run turned out to be the fifth longest in the history of the PBA. But after the Painters broke their silence, the Express inexplicably lost steam and began missing their shots. With Belga spearheading the attack, the Painters regained the lead in the third quarter, 72-70, before launching a searing 15-4 run to take an 87-74 lead at the start of the fourth canto.
