Meg Derby Ace Llamados nearly squandered a 14-point lead in the second half but regained their bearings in the homestretch to beat the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 75-67, Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum in the PBA Fiesta Conference. James Yap led all scorers with 20 points, towing the Llamados to their fourth win in seven games. The Painters suffered their fourth loss in seven games as they lost steam midway in the fourth quarter after razing a 14-point Derby Ace lead to just three, 62-65. But their shooting suddenly haywire as the Llamados racked up eight straight points to pull away for good. In the curtain-raiser, the Barangay Ginebra Kings overcame a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to nip the Air21 Express, 101-100. It was a heartbreaking defeat for the Express who led for most parts of the game only to collapse in the end. Air21 led by as many as 15 points, 82-67, in the third period. Air21 head coach Yeng Guiao fumed after the game, blaming poor officiating for their defeat. The Kings thus raised their win-loss record to 4-3, tying the Llamados to joint third to fourth spot in the standings. Their seventh loss in eight games sent the Express deeper at the bottom of the standings. With the Express comfortably ahead 82-67 in the third quarter, the Kings suddenly exploded with a 30-3 run to take the lead, 97-85 with 4:49 left. During this stretch, the Express missed 14 straight shots and committed five turnovers. But Guiao egging on his troops to fight back, the Express let loose a 15-4 run to threaten 101-100, with still 1:16 left in the game. After Eric Menk failed to score on an easy undergoal stab, import Mildon Ambres grabbed an offensive rebound. But before he could shoot, he lost the ball to Mike Cortez who hurriedly streaked up court and dish out a pass to Ronnie Matias who then heaved a 15-foot side jumper that failed to hit its mark as the buzzer sounded. New Ginebra import Mildon Ambres topscored with 30 points. Menk added 19 on top of eight rebounds, while Willie Miller and Mark Caguioa had 12 and 10, respectively. Caguioa failed to finish the game after he was ejected with 5:07 left in the second period after being slapped with a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 when he slammed the ball at the referee in his effort to save the ball from going out of bounds.
