Strong Fiesta Cup start for All-Filipino champs Purefoods

Derby Ace took control from the opening tip, weathered a strong Sta. Lucia rally before coasting to an 86-79 win in their debut in the PBA Fiesta Cup at the Astrodome Wednesday night.

New import Lorenzo Wade topscored for the Llamados with 20 points with James Yap and K.G. Canaleta adding 18 each to extend Derby Ace’s winning streak a month after scoring a sweep of Alaska in the Philippine Cup finals. Canaleta and Roger Yap made consecutive driving lay ups inside the final two minutes to seal the victory for the Llamados, 82-74. "Our motivation is that we were not the champions in this conference, so we have to continue playing hard," said Canaleta, who also had five rebounds as he filled the void left by the absence of the injured Kerby Raymundo. "It’s hard to fill in the shoes of Kerby. I’m just going to do what is expected of me," added the former University of the East stalwart in Filipino. Sta. Lucia dropped their second straight game for a 1-3 card. Anthony Johnson led the Realtors’ losing cause with 26 points, but was never the same again after being accidentally poked in the left eye during a loose ball battle with eight minutes to go in the final quarter and Sta. Lucia trailing by 12. But Ryan Reyes, former league most valuable player Kelly Williams and Josh Urbiztondo brought Sta. Lucia back in the game, closing to within 76-73 inside the final four minutes of play. The Realtors even had a chance to cut the deficit further, but Johnson missed his two free throws and Williams was stripped off the ball by Roger Yap, allowing the Llamados to score the insurance baskets. Further hurting the Realtors’ cause was their 16 missed shots from the foul line. – GMANews.TV