Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — Making their first Finals appearance, the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters played with remarkable poise as they trounced a fatigued B-Meg Llamados squad, 91-80, Sunday night in Game 1 of the best-of-7 PBA Governors' Cup title series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Jamelle Cornley sparkled on both ends of the court, tallying 25 points and 11 rebounds as he dominated his B-Meg counterpart Marcus Blakely, who struggled with 12 points. After being limited to just eight points in the first half, Cornley exploded for 13 points in the third quarter to propel Rain or Shine to a 66-59 lead at the start of the final quarter. Paul Lee chipped in 14 points while Gabe Norwood and Ronjay Buenafe added 10 points apiece. James Yap topscored for B-Meg with 19 points. With his team unable to match the Painters' firepower and intensity, B-Meg coach Tim Cone threw a monobloc chair onto the court in frustration with 7:23 left, causing his automatic ejection for flagrant misconduct. B-Meg was trailing 64-74 at that point. Following Cone's ejection, Norwood and Jeff Chan poured in the points as Rain or Shine's lead ballooned to 83-65. Rain or Shine won despite being outrebounded, 43-47. The Painters played their trademark physical game right from the start, but the Llamados were able to weather the storm, even taking a 39-35 halftime lead. But it was a different story in the second half as the Painters continued their relentless attacks on the board and leech-like defense on the other end of the court, confounding the Llamados no end. Cone admitted that his boys got frustrated by the pushing and shoving by their rivals with no reaction from the referees. “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 said in explaining why he threw a monobloc chair on the court. Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao was mighty pleased with his players' performance. “I'm really proud of the way the boys handled the pressure," he said. “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."
