Yap scattered 18 first-half points to set the tone for Derby Ace’s trouble-free effort the rest of the way, mercilessly beating Air21, 121-92, in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Wednesday night at the Cuneta Astrodome.

On a day when Commissioner Chito Salud approved a modified version of a previously rejected trade between San Miguel Beer and Air21, Yap snapped out of a slump to finally lead Derby Ace to its first victory in the tournament while handing the Express their second worst loss in franchise history.

Struggling in defeats to Rain or Shine (95-94) and to Powerade (103-96) where he went 9-of-32 from the field and 1-of-10 from rainbow territory, Yap shot 8-of-12 from the floor this time to wind up with 22 points, the bulk coming in the game’s first 24 minutes where the Llamados practically sealed the outcome.

“We just woke up at the right side of the bed,” said Derby Ace mentor Jorge Gallent of the win that ended up as the franchise’s largest winning margin since a 103-69 victory over Rain or Shine during the 2009-10 Philippine Cup.

Nino Canaleta had 28 points – 14 in the third quarter – behind a spectacular 6-of-8 shooting from three-point land. He provided the lift when the team saw action without Rico Maierhofer, who will be out for the rest of the season because of an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury in his right knee he suffered during the game against the Tigers in Lanao del Norte Feb. 26.

“He was just unbelievable,” said Gallent of Canaleta. “I just hope he keeps playing that way.”

It was Yap, however, who shaped Derby Ace’s lopsided win.

The two-time MVP owned 11 of the Llamados’ first 20 points, and Derby Ace enjoyed a 14-point lead (20-6). The ball club ended the first quarter ahead by 28-15 and then suddenly exploded in the second to seize a 64-42 advantage at halftime.

The rest was just too ugly for the Express to see.

They went down by as many as 43 points (105-62) early in the fourth period on a layup by the seldom-used Pong Escobal, a performance that surprisingly came in contrast to the 92-87 Air21 win Air21 against the Beermen Feb. 25.

The other huge news of the day, though, came off the court.

Salud finally approved a new proposal by the Beermen in their efforts to acquire Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Noy Baclao and Rey Guevarra – the draft’s top three picks in the 2010 August Draft.

San Miguel gave up Dondon Hontiveros, Dorian Pena, Danny Seigle and Paul Artadi for those three young cagers after revising the original offer where it proposed to exchange Seigle, Mick Pennisi, Joseph Yeo and a future round pick Salud turned down.

“The revised trade proposal is a marked improvement over the original 3-on-3 player exchange between San Miguel’s Seigle, Pennisi, Yeo for Air21’s Baclao, Al-Hussaini and Guevarra. I find this revised trade to be acceptable because each team is giving up assets of equal value in order to compensate for what each team envisions as significant additions to their respective ball clubs,” said Salud.

Overshadowed by these was Talk ‘N Text, the Philippine Cup champion which rebounded with a 94-80 win over Powerade.

Jimmy Alapag highlighted the Texters’ win by becoming the 67th player to score 5,000 points and only the 20th to join the 5,000-points, 2,000-assists club.

Alapag, the 2003 Rookie of the Year and co-Finals MVP in Talk ‘N Text’s 4-2 series win over rival San Miguel Beer in the season-opening tournament, entered the elite club with a three-point shot with 1:04 left in the third period that gave the Texters a 67-58 lead. The game was temporarily halted to honor him by giving him the ball used in the contest.

But while the Texters won pulling away, it did not in any way satisfy coach Chot Reyes.

“We’re rusty, we’re steps slow, we have no communication,” he said. “I just hope we grind out wins in the early part of the season before we hit our stride. Can you imagine, we have 27 turnovers, which is simply unacceptable. There’s still a lot of work to be done for us to compete with the better teams in the league.”

The 27 errors Talk ‘N Text committed turned out to be the conference worst and the franchise worst for the season.

Paul Harris led Talk ‘N Text with 18 points and 13 rebounds, Alapag had 16 points, and Kelly Williams collected 12 points and 15 rebounds.

The Texters lost their opening game to Smart-Gilas, 103-98.

Powerade dropped to a 1-2 (win-loss) record. Import Russel Carter scored 27 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. He, however, only had Gary David as the huge contributor with 26 points as no other local scored more than six points.