M.Lhuillier-backed squad nails historic 21-game sweep to rule Liga Pilipinas

CEBU, Philippines - Had it been a boxing match, it would have been declared a no contest.

Unleashing an offensive quake that registered a magnitude of seven in the Richter scale, the M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños last night battered, bruised and scalped the hapless Misamis Oriental Meteors, 89-54, to regain the Liga Pilipinas national crown snatched away from them by the same rivals last year at the Cebu Coliseum.

Thus, the Niños of team owner Michel J. Lhuillier and decorated coach Raul “Yayoy” D. Alcoseba listed themselves in history books for completing the first ever 21-game sweep in the regional cage league. Also, it marks for the first time in M. Lhuillier franchise that it bagged a championship title in a major tournament undefeated.

”It was very painful for us to lose our title (against the Meteors) right at our own backyard last year. We made that as our motivation. We want to win back the title before our home fans,” said an obviously ecstatic Alcoseba, even as he credited their resounding success this conference to the series of exhibition matches they had against PBA teams.

”The biggest factor was our tune-up games against PBA teams. We gain confidence. We gain experience. We gain exposure because of that,” he added.

Pressed further on their landmark triumph, Alcoseba humbly replied that “21 is just a number. It only takes one win to claim the championship.”

It was a punishing demolition job by the Niños, who did not give the Meteors any breathing space since racing to a 5-0 start. The closest the Meteors could come was at 6-9 as the host bombarded a fluid 10-0 blast to tear the game part, 19-6.

So dominating the Niños were that they hit their outside targets with accuracy, executed their dreaded running game smoothly and shackled the Meteors with their suffocating defense that even Jaworksi would agree it’s so hard to break down.

The Niños closed the first half with a 44-20 bubble and further buried the Meteors to their graveyard with a staggering 37-point advantage, 80-43, on a triple by Woodrow Enriquez with only 3:55 left in the contest.

Had it not been for some unsportsmanlike and technical fouls, a couple of on-court altercations and the entry of crowd-pleasing Eliud Poligrates with less than three minutes remaining, there would have been no drama to the one-sided encounter.

Ababon netted 14 points followed by Franklin Nailon with 13 markers, but it was Stephen Padilla who flashed the biggest smile as he romped away with the coveted MVP trophy.

”Of course, I’m very happy that we regained our throne and what makes it more special is that we did it at home. “ said Padilla, who finished with 12 points on top of three assists. “I would like to thanks the fans because we could have reached this far without them. The same goes to the M. Lhuillier management.

Even if there was still time left in the gameclock, the M. Lhuillier bench were already in celebratory mood as they blithely wore their championship t-shirts. When the final buzzer honked, confetti rained as the rest of the gang gave Alcoseba a victory ride as they all basked in the spotlight of a landmark conquest that is very hard to match in future Liga tilts. - THE FREEMAN