RAIN OR SHINE TAKES GAME 1

RAIN or Shine passed its first finals test in flying colors.

The Elasto Painters took just one half to adjust to a championship surrounding and went on to notch
a 91-80 victory over B-Meg Sunday at the start of their PBA Governors Cup title duel at the Smart
Araneta Coliseum.

Jamelle Cornley provided the third quarter spark Rain or Shine badly needed and his teammates
rallied behind him from then on for the morale-boosting victory in the opener of the best-of-seven
series.

"I'm really proud of the way the boys handled the pressure," said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.
"Once we got settled down and just able to soak up the atmosphere, they settled down to their
regular game. They were okay from then on."

In the end, the E-Painters notched the biggest winning margin by a finals debutante since U-Tex
prevailed over Crispa 113-105 in the first game of the 1977 Open Conference and Guiao said he is
confident they can build on the win.

"Na-handle naman sarili nila sa finals, so malaking bagay ito sa kompiyansa namin," he noted
following the highly physical match that B-Meg coach Tim Cone said led to his ejection not five
minutes into the final quarter.

"The physicality is great out there," said Cone. "Our guys got frustrated. Our pleas were falling on
deaf ears. I simply got tired of it all, and let my frustrations get the better of me."

Cone threw a monobloc chair onto the court at the final 7:23 mark for the absence of a call on what
he deemed as a foul committed on a driving James Yap, causing his automatic ejection for flagrant
misconduct. His team was trailing by 64-74 then.

Following Cone's early exit, Jeff Chan and Gabe Norwood combined in jacking Rain or Shine's lead to
a high of 83-65.

Cornley wound up with 25 points and 11 rebounds with Paul Lee adding 14 and Norwood and Ronjay
Buenafe chipping in 10 apiece.

Yap led B-Meg with 19 points on a night Marqus Blakely could only manage 12 points after being
hobbled by fouls early. Marc Pingris also 12 added on top of 14 rebounds.

After being held to just eight points in the first half, Cornley scattered 13 in the third quarter
and got plenty of help in boosting Rain or Shine to a 66-59 lead going into the last 12 minutes of
play.

Helping Cornley frolic is the absence of Blakely in the last 3:45 of quarter play due to five fouls.

Ronjay Buenafe helped Cornley with seven points and Ryan Arana four, aside from drawing that telling
foul on Blakely.

It was rough going in the first half, which B-Meg took 39-35 and only through a last-second triple
by Jonas Villanueva.

Cornley and Yancy De Ocampo had a shoving incident which netted each a technical foul with still
4:16 left in the second period.

Prior to that, Belga and Blakely were figuring in some physical plays.

What helped B-Meg take the upper hand at the turn was its 31-18 advantage off the boards, including
11-0 off the offensive glass.

At the end of the game, the E-Painters narrowed the overall rebounding gap to just 43-47 and made 35
of 68 attempts from the field to the Llamados' 30-for-76.

Lee scored all eight of his first half points during a three-minute span in the opening period,
helping Rain or Shine take an 18-16 edge. But his failure to defend Mark Barroca led to him being
benched for the last eight minutes of the half.

Barroca buried two treys and with Jerwin Gaco and Pingris doing their thing inside, the Llamados
took a 33-29 lead.

Meanwhile, Air21 won the coming rookie draft's No. 1 pick overall during the halftime lottery draw,
giving Petron Blaze two of the top three picks in the event set Aug. 19 at the Robinson's
Place-Midtown Manila.

The Boosters have previously acquired the Express' top pick and the No. 3 option from Barako Bull.
(NC) 

The scores:

RAIN OR SHINE 91 - Cornley 25, Lee 14, Norwood 10, Buenafe 10, Belga 8, Ibanes 8, Chan 7, Arana 4,
Quinahan 4, Cruz 1.

B-MEG 80 - Yap 19, Blakely 12, Pingris 12, Simon 9, Gaco 8, Barroca 6, Villanueva 5, Reavis 4,
Urbiztondo 3, De Ocampo 2.

Quarters: 18-16, 35-39, 66-59, 91-80