Jewelers drub Aquastars anew

The M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Jewelers reaffirmed their dominance over the Talisay City Aquastars with a 74-65 victory to firm up their grip of the Visayas Division lead in the ML Kwarta Padala Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) Second Conference the other night at the Cebu Coliseum.

With MVBA scoring leader Woodrow Enriquez seeing limited action due to a flu, M. Lhuillier coach Raul Alcoseba turned to his vast arsenal and squeezed sterling performances from veterans Stephen Padilla, Michael Manigo and Marlon Piodo and young star Jayford Rodriguez.

The Aquastars of head coach and MLSDF executive director Eddie Ybañez raced to a 14-4 start, but Manigo scored eight straight points sandwiching Danny Aying and Padilla's 3-pointers to put the Jewelers back on top at the end of the first quarter, 20-19.

Padilla and Rodriguez then scored eight markers each as the Jewelers dominated the pivotal third quarter where they led by eight points twice, the last was at 58-50 on Niño Ramirez's triple.

Jayzer Esperat would then tie the score for the last time was at 63-63 midway in the fourth period.

The Aquastars had several chances to grab the lead, but Bruce Dacia missed a wide open jumper. Later, they were whistled for a 24-second violation.

With the Jewelers leading by only three, 70-67, the Aquastars still had an opportunity to turn things around in their favor but their hopes went up in smoke because of Kim Calo's costly errors in the closing seconds.

With 47 seconds remaining, Calo lost handle of the basketball after attemping for a behind-the-back dribble despite being trapped by two M. Lhuillier defenders.

In the return play, Alano Caputolan practically sealed M. Lhuillier's win by converting an unmolested layup off a picture perfect assist by Padilla for a 72-67 count with 14 ticks left before the final buzzer.

After that, Calo committed a passing error as he threw the ball to the unsuspecting Dacia in the final 12 seconds.

Caputolan then hit two free throws off a Jessie Lumantas foul to peg the final count.

Manigo topscored for M. Lhuillier with 16 points and five assists followed by Padilla with 15 points and six assists as the Jewelers improved their win-loss record to 3-1.

Esperat topped Talisay with 14 markers, while Bruce Dacia added 13.

The MVBA Visayas hostilities will resume on November 4 when the Toyota-Iloilo Turbos of Robert Uy and Coach Jerry Jaranilla make their debut on the road against the Aquastars.

Over in the Mindanao Division, the MP Warriors-GenSan of Manny Pacquiao hosts the Lanao Royals on November 5 in Koronadal, South Cotabato.

The scores

M. Lhuillier-Cebu (74) - Manigo 16, Padilla 15, Rodriguez 12, Piodo 8, Aying 6, Caputolan 6, Llanto 6, Ramirez 5

Talisay City (65) - Esperat 14, Dacia 13, Calo 8, Lumantas 8, Akad 5, Berami 5, Lozano 5, Bat-og 4, Abatayo 3

Quarterscores:20-19, 37-37, 58-54, 74-65