Llamados repeat over Meralco Bolts

MANILA, Philippines - KG Canaleta ably filled in the shoes left by PJ Simon on his ejection just three minutes into the game as B-MEG Derby Ace repeated over Meralco Bolts, 92-73, to boost its bid for a spot in the Top Six in the PBA Philippine Cup elimination phase at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

Canaleta dished out his most productive performance in a Derby Ace uniform, converting six of seven three-point attempts and ending up with 22 points that went with seven rebounds, two blocks and one assist.

The 6-foot-4 forward went 4-of-4 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter, leading the Llamados to a trouble-free windup for their seventh win against six losses.

Duplicating their 75-71 win over the B-Boys in their previous tiff, the Llamados assured themselves of at least a tie for sixth spot at the close of the elims Wednesday.

The Llamados will clinch the fourth seeding in the playoffs if they beat the Barako Bull Energy Boosters Friday.

“KG stepped up big time as we lost PJ. He had open looks from the three-point area and he made it. He had a great performance, helping us win the crucial game,” said Derby Ace coach Jorge Gallent.

Before this game, Canaleta averaged only 3.3 points in the conference while playing backup to Simon and James Yap at wing spots.

But without Simon, Canaleta rose to the challenge, helping Derby Ace rebound from a loss to the Barangay Ginebra Kings the last time out.

Ronjay Buenafe erupted for eight triples and 29 points as Air21 outlasted Rain or Shine, 93-87, in a gripping battle to move up to joint fifth with Meralco and Alaska Milk at 6-7 later in the night.

 Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Carlo Sharma and Wesley Gonzales also put in double-digit outputs for the Express who dealt the Elasto Painters their seventh loss against five wins.

Simon, the team’s leading scorer in the season with an average of 18.8 points (No. 3 in the league), was automatically ejected for throwing the ball on Ogie Menor just three minutes into the contest with Derby Ace ahead, 7-3.

Subbing for Simon, Canaleta immediately made his presence felt, tossing in 10 points as the Llamados erected a 53-42 lead in the first half.

Jonas Villanueva and Yap also played well on off-the-bench roles, scoring 13 points each.

Macmac Cardona paced the B-Boys with 22 points though fouling out with over three minutes left in the contest.

He scattered 12 points in the first half prompting the Derby Ace coach to put Marc Pingris on him defensively in the second half.

“Ping was our Kryptonite on coach Ryan Gregorio’s Superman (Cardona),” said Gallent.

Playing his third game after his recovery from injury, Pingris came through with 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists on top of his defensive effort on Cardona.

“James Yap was hurting. He’s supposed to be our defensive matchup versus Cardona. Since our best defensive player is already here, we decided to put him on Cardona as the latter scored 10 points early in the contest,” said Gallent.