PBA IMAGE/Nuki Sabio
MANILA, Philippines—Rain or Shine made history Wednesday night, booking its first appearance in the finals in franchise record by nipping B-Meg, 92-82, in the 2012 PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
The league-leading Elasto Painters nearly sputtered in the end after losing a 23-point lead, but came to their senses in time to ward off the Llamados’ last ditch rally.
Hobbled with injury, Jeff Chan still came out firing with 25 points, giving Rain or Shine a whopping 74-51 advantage over B-Meg on two free throws, midway the third quarter.
Two free throws from guard Paul Lee, who’s hobble with an injury, iced the game
Jamelle Cornley added 16 points for the Elasto Painters, who will have a few days of respite as they await their opponent for the best-of-seven finals.
Dominant from the get go, Rain or Shine, though, loosened up toward the payoff period with a seemingly safe lead in hand and allowed B-Meg to slowly crawl back into the game.
The Llamados, who despite the loss have a chance to still clinch a finals berth with another victory on Friday, cut the lead down to six points with 25 ticks remaining—but that was the closest they would get.
Marcus Blakely, who finished with a team-best 18 points, worked to put B-Meg within 82-88 after guard Jonas Villanueva sparked the run in the fourth.
James Yap, who added 12 points, misfired on a triple with 15 seconds left, basically quashing any chances of B-Meg to salvage the game.