In other news, Kerby Raymundo will be back on March 6 and may play against Barangay Ginebra on March 6 or against Alaska Aces on March 13.

Good luck Llamados!

B-Meg Head Coach Jorge Gallent will have his PBA debut as head coach, as Derby Ace Llamados will try to defend their Philippine Cup title as they battle the Talk N Text Tropang Texters minus 4 key players, Kerby Raymundo, Marc Pingris, Rafi Reavis and Rommel Adducul who has Dengue.

MVP James Yap may be forced to play a couple of minutes tonight as he is still recuperating from his minor operation to remove his nasal polyp and will wear a protective mask.

Two new players will have their debut for B-Meg, Jonas Villanueva from San Miguel and Jerwin Gaco who last played with the Philippine Patriots.

Congratulations to the Best player coming off the bench the past PBA 35th season, Niño “KG” Canaleta (B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados) – Mr. Quality Minutes award!

Congratulations also to Rico Maierhofer for being part of the All-Rookie Team and former Derby Ace Head Coach Ryan Gregorio Head Coach of the Year.

Other Awards:
* Kelly Williams (Sta Lucia/Talk N Text) – Comeback Player of the Year
* Manolito Quilingen – Referee of the Year
* Gabe Norwood (Rain or Shine) – Defensive Player of the Year
* Rico Maierhofer, Josh Urbiztondo, Ronnie Matias, Ogie Menor and Jervy Cruz – the All-Rookie Team.
* Wilfred Steven Uytengsu (Alaska) – Executive of the Year
* Ryan Gregorio (Derby Ace/Meralco) – Coach of the Year

With both Alaska and San Miguel holding a 2-1 lead in their respective best-of-seven semifinals series, Derby Ace and Talk N Text hopes to even their series and not fall into a 3-1 deficit which is difficult to come back specially against tough opponents like the Aces and the Beermen.

The Llamados hopes to have a similar game on the 1st half of Game 3 where they controlled both ends of the floor, but must be consistent in all quarters so that they will not let San Miguel come back again at the end of the game. Last conference, Derby Ace (Purefoods TJ Giants) also had a 2-1 deficit in the semifinals and eventually won three straight games against San Miguel to enter the finals and sweep the Alaska Aces. We hope it is the same case this conference.

Let us give our all out support to our team the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados!

Please watch tonight’s i-Witness documentary featuring James Yap and Philippine Basketball by Howie Severino at GMA 7 after Saksi. Also featured in this documentary are UAAP players with provincial roots like Yap, Aldrech Ramos of FEU and Cocoy Hermosisima of NU.