Everything and everyone followed suit.

Rain or Shine’s hard-working import exploded for 17 points in the second quarter, and the Painters dramatically altered the game’s tone in an instant, cruising to their most devastating victory in franchise history in a 113-83 triumph over Petron Friday night in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Reid’s spectacular performance in the second quarter provided Rain or Shine with the energy to erase a 24-23 first-quarter deficit, and the Painters outscored the Boosters, 32-12, in the second period to assume a commanding 55-36 advantage Petron failed to overcome the rest of the way.

“Our import played our best game,” said Guiao. “We were able to contain (Alex) Cabagnot, we prepared to defend well, and with those combinations, we played our best game.”  “We did not expect to win this way,” Guiao pointed out. “We knew Petron was a hot team going into this game. They haven’t lost with their new import.” 

As it turned out, Jeremy Wise wasn’t prepared for the physicality the Painters applied on him.

Banged every time he tried to dart his way to the basket and fouled hard in every easy-point attempt, Wise wound up with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting. It was his worst production since steering the Boosters with a 33-point effort against Air21 in a 115-106 win.

It was just too bad, too, for Arwind Santos that Petron was at its worst form. Santos collected 27 rebounds, a statistic that turned out to be his new career high. It also tied the highest for the season imports included, with Paul Harris of Talk ‘N Text also snatching 27 in the Commissioner’s Cup. By a local, however, Santos’ new achievement was the best since 2004 when Erik Menk of Ginebra also grabbed the same number of rebounds.

Crowd favorite Ginebra took a piece of the day’s limelight by handing Meralco its first defeat in the tournament, leading from start to finish and drawing the first triple-double in the last four conferences from its import in a 97-81 victory.

Curtis Stinson demonstrated how versatile he could be and how far he could lead the Kings by scoring 18 points, dishing off a season-high 16 assists and grabbing 13 rebounds as Ginebra bounced back from a 100-89 loss to sister team Petron last Sunday.

“He knows when to settle down the game, when to push the ball, or make the extra pass,” said Kings’ coach Jong Uichico of Stinson.

Mark Caguioa was the recipient of most of Stinson’s assists and top-scored with 25 points, 10 coming in the fourth quarter, while Ronald Tubid hit a big triple late in the game to highlight a 17-point performance.

Sol Mercado, working double-time in the absence of Meralco’s other scoring sensation in Mark Cardona (left calf injury), had 22 points but just shot 7-of-25 from the floor, while Champ Oguchi added 19 points and nine rebounds. Asi Taulava contributed 13 rebounds and 11 points.

Meralco, which started the tournament with victories against Petron (105-100) and Alaska (81-78), was still in the game in the fourth period, only behind by 81-77. But Gabby Espinas committed an offensive foul, Mercado misfired on a three-point shot, and Taulava missed an undergoal stab as the Bolts allowed the Kings to unleash a 9-0 run (90-77) with 2:01 left to play.

Ronjay Buenafe added 13 points and Josh Vanlandingham contributed 12 for the Rain or Shine, which will now take a nine-day break before it resumes action on July 3 against Powerade, which sees action Saturday against Talk ‘N Text in Digos, Davao del Sur.

Rabeh Al-Hussaini scored 23 points but merely had one rebound for Petron, which dropped to 2-2 (win-loss). Rain or Shine improved to 3-1.

“This is a good way to enter a nine-day vacation,” Guiao said. “But we will have to prepare hard for the next game, recharge and recover.

With a 3-1 record, we are in a good position. We’re eyeing to get in the semis and I think this is the best way to do it. I think to be sure you need five wins (to be in the playoffs).” 

Under Guiao, the Painters have made the playoffs in the Commissioner’s Cup, advancing to the quarterfinals against Ginebra.

The Kings, though, won that best-of-three series, two games to one.