INQUIRER Sports

The Derby Ace Llamados survived a fiery comeback by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to score a pulsating 105-100 overtime triumph in their do-or-die Game 5 of the quarterfinal round of the 35th PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum, last night.

The Llamados thus completed their comeback from a 1-2 series deficit, wrapping up the series 3-2 to advance to the best-of-seven semifinal round opposite sister-team San Miguel Beermen.

After scoring 29 points in 92-78 Game 3 victory, Tony Washam churned out another stellar performance as he carried the Llamados on his shoulders by exploding for 49 points.

Washam unloaded 27 of his total output in the first half where they erected leads of as many as 23 points.

Derby Ace had a 58-40 lead in the third when Solomon Mercado went berserk, scoring 12 points in the quarter that saw the Painters cutting their deficit at 72-69, heading into the final quarter.

Rain or Shine made the daring rally with import Nealy sitting on the bench.

Nealy continued to ride on the bench in the fourth but his absence was barely felt by the Painters, who went on to take the driver's seat in the closing minutes.

Tied at 90-all in the final 12 seconds of regulation, the Painters had a chance to win the game but Mercado, instead of taking a high-percentage shot, opted for a step-back three-point that badly missed.

Derby Ace opened the overtime with a 6-0 run and James Yap helped seal the deal for the Llamados by going six-for-six from the foul line in the final minute.

Gabe Norwood scored 25 points, Mercado had 23 for the Painters, who were eliminated by the Llamados for the second straight conference.

Rico Maierhofer was the leading local scorer for Derby Ace with 17.