PBA: Rain or Shine on the brink of maiden title, go up 3-1 on B-MEG

(Updated 9:38pm) Down 10-0 at the start of the game, then 30-17 after twelve minutes, the big deficits seemingly had no effect on the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.

Rain or Shine put up a supreme effort, overturning a huge B-MEG Llamados lead to win 94-89, putting them at 3-1, a win away from the 2012 PBA Governors' Cup championship, Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

"We get some breathing room but it's by no means done," said Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao. "It's not over until its done. This is a vulnerable moment; we might think it's over but it's not.

"If they [B-MEG] come out strong on Wednesday and get on a roll, they will be hard to stop when they get their bearings."


B-MEG started out strong, scoring 10 straight before Gabe Norwood finally put Rain or Shine on the board with a three-point play, 10-3. The Llamados leaned on James Yap in the early goings of the game, as the former PBA MVP showed off his scoring prowess to put B-MEG ahead by 17, 29-12. The Elasto Painters made up some ground though on a 5-1 run to end the period, as Norwood scored on a corner three to cut the lead to 13, 30-17.

In the second, RoS capitalized on B-MEG's eight turnovers, as the Llamados allowed the Elastopainters to go on a 23-9 run keyed in by a barrage of triples. A tip-in by import Jamelle Cornley put the Painters ahead for the first time, 40-39, with 2:52 remaining, and they Rain or Shine quintet was able to bad it up to 47-43, before a PJ Simon buzzer-beater ended the period with the Llamados behind by just a deuce, 47-45.

The B-MEG started the third quarter with a 9-1 surge that put them back on top, as Simon nailed back-to-back triples. Rain or Shine countered though with a Cornley slam and a Jeff Chan three to tie things up again at 63-each. The back-and-forth continued, before RoS was able to emerge on top at the end of the period, 74-72.

A Simon conversion followed by a Blakely split from the line had the Llamados up 78-76 early, before the Elasto Painters grabbed the lead yet again, 83-78. Norwood hit a three to put RoS ahead seven, 88-81, for Rain or Shine's largest lead of the game, before Blakely and Simon had back-to-back hits to make it a three-point game, 88-85.

With only 1:44 remaining, Cornley hit a tough turnaround off an isolation play to put his side up, 90-85. Yancy De Ocampo made it 90-87 with 1:22 remaining after tipping in a James Yap miss, but Gabe Norwood was unable to counter. Beau Belga however crashed the boards and picked up the carom for a fresh shotclock draining killing precious time.


Off a foul by Josh Urbiztondo, Ronjay Buenafe calmly sank two charities to make it a five-point game, 38.3 ticks left. Import Marqus Blakely did the same feat on the other end, then Beau Belga missed on a lay-up, giving possession back to the Llamados with 9.2 seconds remaining.

Ryan Arana sent Blakely to the line anew, and this time he missed both free throws. Off a timeout by Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao, the Painters got the ball into the hands of Jeff Chan, who canned the two charities upon being fouled, to put his side up by five again, 94-89, 6.9 seconds to go.  A Yancy De Ocampo missed triple then made things official.

Jamelle Cornley led the Rain or Shine charge with a double-double of 23 points and 14 rebounds, while also dishing out five assists. Gabe Norwood finished with 18 points, nine coming from outside the arc, along with four boards and two dimes, while the bench mob of Ronjay Buenafe, TY Tang, and JR Quinahan combined for 33 markers.

"Big Game" James Yap led all scorers with 25 points but he needed 22 attempts to reach that. Marqus Blakely put on a dominant show of 22 points and 23 rebounds, while PJ Simon fired in 14 more points. That trio of B-MEG all clocked in at least 40 minutes of action.

The Elasto Painters will get a crack at wrapping up the series on Wednesday, still at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

RAIN OR SHINE 94 - Jamelle 23, Norwood 18, Buenafe 13, Tang 11, Quinahan 9, Chan 7, Belga 4, Arana 3, Cruz 2, Matias 2, Ibanes 2.

B-MEG 89 - Yap 25, Blakely 22, Simon 14, Urbiztondo 10, Villanueva 5, Pingris 5, Reavis 4, de Ocampo 4, Barroca 0.

Quarter scoring: 17-30, 47-45, 74-72, 94-89