formerly Purefoods TJ Giants – began their quest for a season sweep with an emphatic 86-79 win against the Sta. Lucia Realtors Wednesday night at the Cuneta Astrodome in the PBA Fiesta Conference. Following their championship victory in the recent PBA Philippine Cup, the Llamados showed just enough flashes of brilliance to overcome Sta. Lucia's challenge. Playing for the first time on Philippine soil, import Lorenzo Wade unloaded 20 points to topscore for the Llamados. Nino Canaleta came off the bench to add 18 points, the same output made by James Yap. B-Meg won despite missing the services of Kerby Raymundo who is undergoing rehab on his injured right knee. Sta. Lucia's Anthony Johnson led all scorers with 26 points but failed to draw sufficient support from his local teammates. In the first match of the double-header, the Talk N Text Tropang Texters prevailed over the Alaska Aces, 100-92, to nail their second win in four games in the import-flavored conference. Burly Shawn Daniels played his best game in the conference, churning out 25 points on an almost impeccable 12-of-16 shooting clip. He also hauled down 15 rebounds, and had four assists, five steals and three blocks in 38 minutes of action. The TNT starters also played their guts out, with Macmac Cardona contributing 20 points, seven assists and three steals, Harvey Carey with 16 points, Ranidel de Ocampo with 15 markers, and Jimmy Alapag, 10 points and five assists. The Aces played with rusty legs and did not pose much of a challenge to the fired up Texters despite winning in the rebound battle with 61 against TNT's 46. The only saving grace for Alaska was the performance of its new import, Diamon Simpson, who impressed head coach Tim Cone. Simpson led all scorers with 36 points. He also grabbed 25 rebounds in his PBA debut.“He's a monster. He can really play. Problem is he's not the only one out there playing,” Cone said of his prized import. Joe de Vance scored 14 points while Willie Miller added 12.
