Another tough win in overtime for the Llamados as they survived San Miguel, 93-88 with Peter June Simon and Marc Pingris providing the finishing blows. PJ Simon scored 26 points and 7 rebounds including the first 5 points in overtime while Marc Pingris had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds including crucial rebounds at the end game as B-Meg won their 2nd straight overtime game.

New Import Courtney Beasley played well in his debut with 17 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals but was out most of the game due to foul trouble. Special mention goes to Jonas Villanueva who scored 14 points and Kerby Raymundo who had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and made a record as the 63rd player to have 5,000 points in PBA history.

James Yap, Don Allado, Rafi Reavis and Rico Maierhofer did not play this game due to injuries.

Game scores:

Derby Ace 93 – Simon 26, Beasley 17, Villanueva 14, Pingris 13, Raymundo 13, Yap R. 8, Gaco 2,
Escobal 0, Canaleta 0, Adducul 0.

San Miguel 88 – Young 28, Al-Hussaini 16, Washington 13, Cabagnot 13, Santos 5, Tugade 5, Ildefonso
4, Miranda 2, Salvacion 2, Baclao 0.

Alex Cabagnot made a game winning shot for two consecutive games as San Miguel wins its third straight game by beating the Derby Ace Llamados, 85-83. The Beermen was leading by 3 points, 83-80 when Peter June Simon made a big 3-point shot to tie the game but Cabagnot made a drive to the basket and made a difficult shot with 2 defenders to win the game.

James Yap led Derby Ace with 21 points and 7 rebounds but made only 3 points in the 4th quarter. Roger Yap had an all-around game with 6 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks. B-Meg led in rebounding 54-40 with Don Allado leading with 9 rebounds, but the Llamados committed 19 turnovers compared to only 11 by San Miguel. Derby Ace dropped to 1 win and 5 losses.

Jay Washington of San Miguel was thrown out in the third quarter for throwing the ball at Don Allado.

Game Scores:

San Miguel Beer 85 – Hontiveros 14, Seigle 11, Yeo 10, Ildefonso 10, Cabagnot 9, Santos 8, Miranda 7, Washington 4, Racela 4, Pena 4, Artadi 2, Pennisi 2.

Derby Ace 83 – Yap J 21, Villanueva 11, Salvador 10, Simon 9, Allado 9, Gaco 7, Yap R 6, Acuna 5, Maierhofer 5, Canaleta 0, Adducul 0.

Quarterscores: 23-16, 49-39, 64-60, 85-83

Jonas Villanueva and Paul Artadi will face their old teams as B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados and San Miguel Beermen battle each other for the first time since exchanging guards in the off-season. These two teams have contrasting records as San Miguel now has a 4-1 record as they hope to maintain their three game winning streak since Ato Agustin took over the coaching job, while Derby Ace has a 1-4 record and is still looking to play consistently specially on defense.

Game time will be at 5pm, followed by Meralco Bolts vs Powerade Tigers at 7:30pm both at the Araneta Coliseum.

Purefoods has comeback from a 0-2 and 3-1 series deficit in the past and is only 1 of 2 teams to win 3 straight wins after being down 3-1 (against Alaska in 2006). Will history repeat itself? Derby Ace will try to take it one game at a time and try to stop Powerhouse San Miguel in Game 5 Today at the Araneta Coliseum.

In order for the Llamados to win, they must match the energy and intensity of the Beermen specially Gabe Freeman who has been killing them with his rebounding. The locals specially Derby Ace bench must show up tonight to keep fresh legs on the floor specially Paul Artadi, Nino Canaleta, Peter June Simon and Rico Maierhofer.

But the key in Game 5 is rebounding (this is where we are missing the services of Kerby Raymundo and Marc Pingris, who is playing with an injury) and of course the play of Derby Ace Import Tony Washam is critical, Washam played poorly in the 3 games that Derby Ace lost to San Miguel, we hope his championship experience in other leagues will show tonight.

Go B-meg Derby Ace Llamados!

San Miguel outrebounded Derby Ace 61-45 as they take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven semifinals series and try to close out on Game 5 this Friday, 5pm at the Araneta Coliseum. James Yap led Derby Ace with 18pts but it was another subpar performance for Derby Ace Import Tony Washam who only scored 12pts on 2 out of 19 from the field.

Although the Beermen now needs just one win in 3 tries, the Llamados must take it one game at a time and keep up with the energy of the Beermen. The other locals actually played well, like Roger Yap who had 15pts, 5rebs and 7asts, Marc Pingris with 8pts and 9rebs and Rico Maierhofer with 6pts, 7rebs and 3asts but we need more production from Washam in scoring and specially in rebounding (Gabe Freeman had 24 rebounds in this game).

Let us give our all out support in Game 5 and take it one game at a time, last conference we won 3 straight games vs San Miguel and we must believe it is still possible this conference.

Game Scores:

San Miguel 83 – Freeman 22, Santos 12, Hontiveros 12, Washington 11, Yeo 7, Cabagnot 7, Ildefonso 7, Racela 3, Vilanueva 2, Pena 0.

Derby Ace 75 – Yap J 18, yap R 15, Washam 12, Pingris 8, Maierhofer 6, Simon 6, Reavis 4, Canaleta 3, Artadi 2, Allado 1.

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!

Chris Timberlake having quality minutes as PG

Gabe Freeman Dunk

Jondan Salvador sandwiched

Don Allado scoring inside and out in Game 3

More pictures at the Derby Ace vs San Miguel Semifinals Gallery

Derby Ace hopes to bounce back from their disappointing loss in Game 1 to San Miguel, it is a must win for the Llamados because it will be difficult to climb back from a 2-0 deficit specially against a formidable team like San Miguel. Derby Ace Import Tony Washam must make adjustments on his offense where he was limited to only 23pts on 6 out of 18 from the field. The other Derby Ace players must step up, where we can see in Game 1 that they lacked energy maybe because of the long and tiring series against Rain or Shine. San Miguel also had a couple of fast break dunks in Game 1 and which Derby Ace needs adjust and tighten their defense in Game 2.

In the other semifinals matchup, Powerhouse Talk N Text also hopes to bounce back from a humiliating loss to Alaska, 104-88.

Go B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados!

After scoring 49 points in Game 5 vs Rain or Shine, Tony Washam was held to only 23pts, James Yap top scored for Derby Ace with 24pts and only reserve Peter June Simon as the other Llamados in double figures with 12.

But just like last conference where the Purefoods TJ Giants was beaten badly in Game 1, they got back in Game 2 and eventually won the series, we hope that Coach Ryan Gregorio will make the adjustments in Game 2 and this will also be a test for Derby Ace Import Tony Washam who also has to make offensive adjustments from different Beermen defending him.

Game scores:

San Miguel 101 – Washington 28, Freeman 23, Santos 15, Hontiveros 15, Villanueva 8, Pena 4, Racela 3, Cabagnot 2, Seigle 2, Miranda 1, Yeo 0, Ildefonso 0, Pennisi 0.

Derby Ace 88 – J. Yap 24, Washam 23, Simon 12, Artadi 7, Timberlake 6, Maierhofer 6, Pingris 4, Adducul 2, Reavis 2, R. Yap 2, Canaleta 0, Allado 0.