Derby Ace rips Air21's traded stars

MANILA, Philippines - B-MEG Derby Ace finally nailed its first win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, giving Air21 and its prized rookies an a farewell game they would rather forget at the Cuneta Astrodome last night.

KG Canaleta sizzled with 28 points, James Yap added 22 and the whole Derby Ace team torched the Express with a 56.5-percent field-goal shooting in fashioning out a 121-92 rout.

“I think we woke up in the right side of the bed,” said coach Jorge Gallent after his team’s sterling game that gave them the most lopsided win in the season thus far.

The Llamados led from start to finish, enjoying their biggest spread at 105-62 on a layup by Pong Escobal at the onset of the final period.

The Express suffered the blowout in their last game with marquee freshmen Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Noy Baclao and Rey Guevarra.

Moments after the game, league commissioner Chito Salud announced his approval on the revised trade deal between Air21 and San Miguel Beer.

Al-Hussaini, Baclao and Guevarra moved over to SMB in exchange for Danny Seigle, Dorian Peña, Dondon Hontiveros and Paul Artadi.

“The revised trade proposal is a marked improvement over the original 3-on-3 exchange between San Miguel’s Seigle, Pennisi and Yeo for Air21’s Baclao, Al-Hussaini and Guevarra,” said Salud.

“I find this revised trade to be acceptable because each team is giving up assets of equal value in order to compensate for what each team envisions as significant additions to their respective ball clubs,” Salud added.

“We are putting premium on championship experience Danny Seigle, Dorian Peña, Dondon Hontiveros and Paul Artadi can give us,” said Air21 team owner Bert Lina in a statement. “We think that having these gentlemen in our team is the right direction as we would want to blend experience with youth and this will hopefully provide us with immediate results.”

For his part, SMB coach Ato Agustin said: “This is the right time to rebuild the team. So with this in mind, the trade with Air21 Express will be the important first step for us to ensure the continuing success of the San Miguel Beer franchise.”

He, however, admitted that the trade will not be a quick fix for the team, saying: “We believe that Hussaini, Baclao and Guevarra will slowly but surely be molded into the San Miguel system.”

Behind a torrid shooting, Derby Ace built a big lead early and took the half at 64-42.

For all intents and purposes, the game was over in the third canto with the Llamados stretching their lead to 40 at 100-60 on a baseline shot by PJ Simon on an assist by KG Canaleta.

Air21 hardly got into the game as import Jeremy Robinson picked up three early fouls that limited him to eight minutes in the first half.

The Llamados closed the first quarter at 28-15 and took advantage of things with the Express unable to get into the groove through to the finish.

Canaleta knocked in six of eight three-point attempts and three of four two-point tries while Yap went 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-4 from the stripe leading the Llamados to their biggest win since a 103-69 rout of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters during the 2009-2010 Philippine Cup.

Jimmy Alapag made 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and became the 67th member of the league’s 5,000-point club as Talk n Text clobbered Powerade, 94-80, in the second game.

Paul Harris and Kelly Williams both churned out double-double numbers, helping the Texters break into the win-column in the mid-season tourney after losing their debut versus Smart Gilas.