Canaleta lifts Llamados past Bolts

KG Canaleta exploded for a personal conference-high 22 points as defending champion B-Meg Derby Ace turned back Meralco, 92-73, and made a case for a possible Top 6 finish in the PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Canaleta highlighted his best game of the season-opening conference by knocking in six three-pointers and pouring in 12 in the fourth period when the Llamados ripped the game wide open. His offensive brilliance lifted the Llamados to solo fourth place with their seventh win in 13 outings. Canaleta’s offensive onslaught made up for Peter June Simon’s absence after the Derby Ace shooting guard was ejected at the 8:23 mark of the first quarter when he threw the ball hard on Ogie Menor following a hard foul by the Meralco sophomore. The Llamados were on top at the time, 7-3. Simon, a PBL regular season MVP, has averaged 25.6 points in his last five games with Derby Ace. “Big game for KG. He delivered," said Derby Ace rookie coach Jorge Gallent of the four-time All-Star and slamdunk champion who averages only 3.3 points in the current eliminations. “Sana magtuloy-tuloy na ang performance niya." Finishing with 13 apiece for the reigning All-Filipino champs were two-time MVP James Yap and Jonas Villanueva. “It was a blessing na nawala si PJ," Gallent stressed. “The guards did well." Big men Don Allado, Rico Maierhofer and Marc Pingris combined for 26 points aside from helping contain Meralco’s top gunner Mark Cardona. Cardona finished with a team-high 22 points but shot a paltry 6-of-19 from the field, dragging the Bolts down to a 30 percent clip from the floor (21-of-70). “The plan was for James (Yap) to take on him (Mark)," said Gallent. “But James was complaining of a bad back kahapon (Tuesday) pa. So we decided why not put our best defender on Cardona." Ryan Gregorio, the Meralco coach, has now lost twice against his former team, with this one dropping the Bolts to a tie with idle Alaska at fifth to six spots, both with 6-7 cards. A win by Derby Ace against the already eliminated Barako Bull on Friday will formally seal a Top 6 quarterfinals spot for the Llamados, which means figuring in a best-of-three series. – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV