Published on November 24, 2011

B-Meg is surging while Rain or Shine is skidding. Both teams may be charting opposite directions at the moment but an explosive collision will occur at the Smart Araneta Coliseum as the Llamados and the Elasto Painters continue pursuing one of the top two spots at the end of their 14-game schedule. 

The Llamados, who are already in sync with coach Tim Cone’s triangle offense, have made up for a faulty 2-4 start and pocketed four consecutive victories against Shopinas.com (76-65), Meralco (95-89), Alaska (92-89) and Barangay Ginebra (88-76) to improve to 6-4.

Published on November 24, 2011

AT the moment, what Shopinas.com wants is simply to enter the win column and avoid going 0-14 in its maiden conference as a member of the Philippine Basketball Association. 

Just one win. 

But hey, should the Clickers manage to achieve that goal in Friday night’s game against the Powerade Tigers, they would still have a very slim chance of squeaking into the quarterfinal round. 

MANILA, Philippines – Sweet-shooting Nino Canaleta led Barangay Ginebra Kings to a 85-77 victory over the Alaska Aces in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.

The lanky wingman torched the hoops with a game-high 21 points to go with his 8 rebounds and 1 block, according to PBA.ph.

Ginebra coach Siot Tanquincen was impressed with Canaleta’s performance.

The Meralco Bolts sparked a late rally in the third quarter to cruise to an 83-75 win over the slumping Barako Bull Energy Wednesday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

Mark Cardona led all scorers with his 17 points along with four rebounds and two steals, while center Asi Taulava registered a double-double performance of 10 points and 17 rebounds to help Meralco move up to fourth place in the standings with a 7-4 win-loss record.

After Barako Bull guard Paul Artadi tied the game at 50-all in the third period, Meralco suddenly blasted off an 11-0 run, capped by guard Sol Mercado’s attack to the basket to end the quarter.

Forward Niño Canaleta fired 21 points, while his teammates scored crucial baskets in the endgame to fuel the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings to an 85-77 victory over the Alaska Aces Wednesday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.

Canaleta also had eight rebounds and four three-pointers to lead Ginebra, which reverted its player rotation to allow its old mainstays to play more minutes. In their past games, the Gin Kings tried to inject youth to their aging lineup by giving its young players heavy playing time.

Veteran guards Mike Cortez, who chipped in 13 points and four assists, and Jayjay Helterbrand, who poured in 10 points and seven assists, doused water in Alaska’s fiery run in the late stretches of the game.

Published on November 23, 2011

Ageless Asi Taulava turned back time and came through with a mammoth performance as Meralco downed Barako Bull, 83-75, to leap to solo fourth spot in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum last Wednesday. 

Mark Cardona fired 17 points while Gabby Espinas, Solomon Mercado and Mark Isip chipped in 16, 12 and 10, respectively. 

Taulava, who turned 38 this year, however, played the biggest as he came through with monster numbers of 10 points and his conference high 17 rebounds as the Bolts nailed their seventh win against four losses to improve from a share of No. 4 with idle B-Meg (6-4) to solo hold of it.

Published on November 23, 2011

Brgy. Ginebra knows it can beat its opponents with lights-out shooting. It can play tough defense too. 

On this particular night, both facets of the Kings' game aligned which proved enough to thwart an attempt by the Alaska Aces to turn the game around for an 85-77 victory that kept the former back on track in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum Wednesday. 

Published on November 22, 2011

After hurting his left knee early in the game, Jayson Castro could have simply left the game for good, accepted Talk ‘N Text’s current misfortunes and followed to the sidelines the footsteps of fellow injured teammates Jimmy Alapag, Ryan Reyes, Ali Peek and Aaron Aban, and Ranidel de Ocampo who fell to cramps, in that game last Saturday against Rain or Shine in Cagayan de Oro City. 

But there was simply just too much fight and heart left in Castro to just give up and not be of help to his ailing team anymore. So he played through the pain and took matters into his own hands. The result was a 106-104 overtime win for the Tropang Texters that formalized their place in the playoffs.

Published on November 22, 2011

Meralco has not won more than two games in a row in the PBA Philippine Cup. 

But it has kept itself in the upper half of the team standings by being one of only two remaining teams that has not lost back-to-back games in the conference. 

Coming off a week’s rest since a 98-96 win over Powerade a week ago, the Bolts take on dangerous Barako Bull Wednesday, aiming to win consecutive games for already the third time in the conference.