MANILA: Despite playing with a depleted roster, the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados turned adversity into opportunity as they brought down the erstwhile undefeated Smart Gilas Nationals, 98-90, in overtime Wednesday night in the PBA Commissioner's Cup. In the other game played at the Araneta Coliseum, the Meralco Bolts routed the Powerade Tigers, 111-88, with Mark Cardona leading all scorers with 25 points. The Bolts climbed into a tie for seventh to eighth place with the Air21 Express as they scored their second win in six outings. The Tigers fell to ninth place with a 2-5 win-loss card. With top marksman James Yap and six other players nursing injuries, Derby Ace relied on the firepower of their import Shamari Spears, P.J. Simon, Marc Pingris, Kerby Raymundo and KG Canaleta to notch their third win in seven games, good for solo sixth place in the standings. Playing his last game with Derby Ace, Spears scored a conference-high 26 points, Simon chipped in 20 while Pingris, Raymundo and Canaleta combined for 48 markers. The loss snapped Smart Gilas' five-game winning streak as the Nationals allowed the Talk N Text Tropang Texters to tie them for the lead in the rankings. The Nationals and Llamados fought fiercely throughout the game which ended in regulation at 86-all. But the Llamados had the final say in overtime as Simon scored the first five points in that period. When JV Casio scored to pull Smart Gilas to within three, 90-93, Canaleta knocked in a booming trey with 50 seconds left to snuff out the Nationals' hopes.
