B-Meg outlasts Alaska

CEBU, Philippines – It was just a PBA pre-season match, but the Alaska Aces and B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados treated the huge crowd to a highly entertaining hardcourt showdown as if they were slugging it out for the championship.

And when the dust settled, the Llamados came out smoking the victory pipe.

High-leaping foward Nino Canaleta pumped in 11 of his topscoring 21 points in the final quarter to rally the Llamados past the Aces, 73-70, at the University of San Carlos (USC)-Main gym.

From the very start, there was no indication that it was just an exhibition duel as the two protagonists threw out aggressive plays, tenacious defense and at times the game went physical.

Although the Aces took an early 19-14 edge, it was the Llamados who dictated the pace of the match for most of the way. B-Meg's could only led by as much as eight points, 44-36, as Alaska fought back with savvy to pull within just a hairline, 51-52, with 19 seconds left in the third quarter.

But Jonas Villanueva closed the period with an incredible buzzer-beating shot from the halfcourt to give the Llamados the needed morale-booster going into the final canto.

The Aces surprised the Llamados with a 7-1 run to snatch the upperhand, 58-56, but only for a short moment as after Don Carlos Allado tied the scoreat 58-all with a long-range jumper, Canaleta dropped seven straight points spotlighted by a lightning slam dunk to put B-Meg on top by five, 65-60, with 5:40 left to play.

The Aces were still in the thick of the fight after Joe Devance completed a three-point play that pushed them to within a matchstick, 70-71, with a minute remaining.

After a botched attempt by B-Meg, the Aces had a chance to steal the lead but they comitted a costly passing error. In an effort to stop the clock, they quickly fouled Roger Yap, who then clamly sank his twin gift shots to push B-Meg ahead by three, 73-70, with only 11 ticks left before the final buzzer.

The Aces could have knotted the count, but Devance fired an airball to the dismay of Alaska fans.

Peter June Simon and Allado backed up Canaleta with 21 points combined for B-Meg. Devance topped Alaska with 17 points followed by Cyrus Baguio with 13 mark-ers.

B-Meg superstar James Yap was present in the closely-fought battle but came in streetclothes. Nevertheless, he was the center of attraction as fans came in droves to ask for his autograph and take photos of him. (FREEMAN)