Meg Derby Ace Llamados finally barged into the win column after four games as it prevailed over the Meralco Bolts, 75-71, Wednesday night in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome. Rico Maierhofer scored just nine points but had 14 rebounds and five blocks as he typified the Llamados' gallant stand against the upstart Bolts which suffered its third straight defeat after upsetting the Barangay Ginebra Kings in the season opener. It was the first game for Meralco head coach Ryan Gregorio against his former team which he led to last year's victory in the 2009 PBA Philippine Cup Finals. Meanwhile, in the curtain-raiser, Sol Mercado hit the game-winning shot as the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters dealt the Talk N Text Tropang Texters their first loss, 95-93, in four games. Mercado, one of three PBA players tapped to reinforce the Philippine national basketball team to the Asian Games scheduled next month, drained a basket from the top of the key, shattering the game's final deadlock with 1.5 seconds left. The Texters called timeout but squandered the chance to send the closely fought game into overtime as Harvey Carey's inbounds pass at the sideline proved too high to catch, with the ball hitting the top of the backboard. Kelly Williams still managed to recover the ball, but his fade-away, turnaround shot fell short as the Painters celebrated their second win in four games. The Texters lost despite out-rebounding the Painters, 52-45. The loss gave the Alaska Aces the solo lead with a 3-0 card. The Texters trailed by as many as 11 points, 61-50, but came charging back to tie the score at 93-all on two free throws by Jimmy Alapag, who scored 12 of his game-high 26 points in the second half. Harvey Carey had another double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds.
