Express dash Realtors q’final hopes

Air21 rookie forward Niño Canaleta stole a play from a teammate and buried a three-pointer in the closing seconds to personally close the quarterfinals door on Sta. Lucia Realty last night in the Gran Matador Brandy PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Canaleta’s trey proved to be a lethal blow on Sta. Lucia, enabling the Express to complete a come-from-behind 110-107 victory that booted the Realtors out of contention for the fourth and last quarterfinals slot being disputed in the wildcard round.

The Express overcame a five-point deficit in the last two minutes and came through with the stirring win that boosted their bid for the right to challenge the Red Bull squad in the quarterfinals.

Ranidel de Ocampo fashioned out a huge double-double performance with 27 points and 12 rebounds but Canaleta turned to be the biggest hero in the end for the three-pointer he made while deviating from a play devised by coach Bo Perasol for Yancy de Ocampo.

"When KG (Canaleta) has the ball, he really makes things happen. Like tonight, he took that three-point shot when our play was for Yancy to make a quick two. Luckily, KG made the shot and he bailed all of us out of trouble," said Perasol.

The 6-foot-3 forward out of University of the East pumped in the trey on a step-back jumper off the outstretched arms of Bitoy Omolon coming off a timeout with the Express down by two, 104-106, with 49.5 seconds left to play.

After Dennis Espino and Canaleta committed an error each, Leo Avenido grabbed a big offensive rebound and nailed a charity giving Air21 a 108-106 lead with time down to 9.8 seconds.