Meg Derby Ace Llamados rampaged to their fifth straight win, demolishing the Alaska Aces, 84-79, Wednesday night in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. Coming off the bench, Nino Canaleta poured a conference-high 17 points, including a three-pointer that gave Derby Ace a two-point lead with 49 seconds left in the game. Canaleta also grabbed six rebounds and helped handcuff Joe Devance, Alaska's leading scorer, who was limited to 11 points on a 3-of-19 shooting. James Yap and PJ Simon uncorked 19 points apiece. The win improved the Llamados' win-loss record to 6-5 as they climbed to solo fourth place in the team standings. It also avenged B-Meg's 87-92 loss to Alaska in their first meeting last Oct. 13. The Aces suffered their sixth loss in eight games as they slid to solo sixth in the rankings. LA Tenorio topscored for Alaska with 15 points, including six in the fourth quarter when the Aces overhauled a 59-70 B-Meg lead to take the lead. Tenorio's layup gave Alaska a 79-78 edge. But B-Meg quickly regained the lead as Canaleta nailed his winning clutch three-pointer, his third in the game. In the first match of the double-header, Macmac Cardona drilled 16 of his 24 points in the final quarter as the Meralco Bolts repulsed the Powerade Tigers, 88-85. Chris Ross also notched his first career double-double as he grabbed 12 rebounds and issued 10 assists, aside from scoring six points. The Bolts collected their third straight win and improved to a 5-5 win-loss record, good for solo fifth in the standings. The Tigers suffered their fifth consecutive defeat and with a 3- 8 record overall, they now face the prospects of early exit in the conference.
