Only a breath away

Painters score 94-89 victory over Llamados in Game 4 to inch closer to first PBA crown

The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters moved a game away from winning their first title in franchise history following a 94-89 win over the B-Meg Llamados last night in Game 4 of the 37th PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-seven finals at the Araneta Coliseum.

Meanwhile, Mark Caguioa of the Barangay Ginebra Kings secured his Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy in the pre-game Leo Awards.

Jamelle Cornley fired 26 points, while Gabe Norwood finished with a personal conference-high 18 points for the Painters, who could bag their first title since joining the league in 2006 with another win on Wednesday’s Game 4.

The Painters started slow in the highly intense duel, allowing the Llamados to race to a 10-0 start and at one point trailed by as many 17 points.

But it didn’t take long for Rain or Shine to recover, moving in front at halftime, 47-45.

B-Meg again threatened to pull away in the third, starting the period with a 9-1 run to erect a 54-45 lead. The pesky Painters answered with their own run to steal the lead, 74-72, with one quarter left.

A 6-2 run at the start of the payoff period gave the Llamados then the Painters once again retaliated with their own rally– a 7-0 tear that gave the them the lead for good, 83-78.

Tension broke out in the final 8:46 when Marc Pingris was called for a flagrant foul-penalty one after head-butting and hitting Ryan Araña with a closed fist in the shoulder.

Caguioa was joined in the First Mythical Team by Gary David, Arwind Santos, James Yap and Ranidel de Ocampo.

The Second Mythical Team was composed of Jayson Castro, Paul Lee, Jeff Chan, Sonny Thoss and Kelly Williams.

Rain or Shine’s Paul was named the Rookie of the Year while teammate Jeff Chan bagged the Most Improved Player accolade.The All-Defensive Team was comprised of Marc Pingris, Doug Kramer, Arwind Santos, Jireh Ibanes, Ryan Reyes, while JVee Casio took home the Sportsmanship Award.