Willie Miller and Willie Wilson of Barako Bull (dark) vs Elmer Espiritu of Air21 (light). Nuki Sabio/PBA
MANILA, Philippines – Niño Canaleta led the way with a double-double as Air21finally won, 92-77, at the expense of skidding Barako Bull in the 2014 PLDT MyDSL Philippine Cup Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Canaleta scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Joseph Yeo collected 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Express, who ended a five-game tailspin.
“It’s a dramatic improvement on our part. Our first three games were really horrific, we can’t play [defense],” said Air21 head coach Franz Pumaren.
The Express led wire-to-wire as they managed to deny the Energy’s comeback attempts throughout the game.
Mark Cardona added 13 points, five rebounds and four assists while Wynne Arboleda had 12 points including back-to-back treys that stretched Air21’s lead to 16, 89-73, with 2:51 left.
Canaleta ended the Energy’s hopes with another triple – a step back jumper over Mark Isip from the right wing – to set the final tally.
“Slowly, we’re getting used to playing together. Good win for us, at least we got the monkey off our backs.”
Rookie Carlo Lastimosa topscored for Barako Bull, which have now lost its third straight game after winning its first two, with 15 points in 18 minutes in his first PBA game while Isip had 12 points and nine rebounds.
With the win, the Express also avenged their 75-88 loss to the Energy when both teams met for the first time last November 20.
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