Wins by Niños, Buddies force do-or-die tiffs

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Host ML Kwarta Padala Cebu Niños and Smart Pampanga Buddies bounced back from opening day losses to create a mad scramble for the championship berths in the Cebu City leg of the 2009 Smart-Liga Pilipinas Conference II.

A day after seeing their 11-game win streak at home end, the defending national champion Niños vented their ire on the erstwhile undefeated Misamis Oriental Meteors, 70-65, in a fight-marred game, while the Buddies blasted the Harbour Centre-Taguig Batang Global, 76-72, on Day Two at the New Cebu Coliseum Thursday night .

The four teams tied at 1-1, thus rendering the leg’s Day Three games a double knockout affair with the winners advancing to the leg finals Saturday at the University of San Carlos main gym.

Playing with intensity and smooth teamwork from the opening buzzer, the Niños of Michel Lhuillier and coach Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba raced to several 21-point leads, the last coming with 4:14 left in the third period on a Stephen Padilla triple, 56-35.

Hoping to extend their nine-game winning run this conference, the Meteors of Gov. Oscar Moreno and Coach Jun Noel slowly chipped away at the Ninos’ lead. Mark Yee completed a three-point play off Marlon Basco and Joey Mente added one free throw to put the Meteors at the their closest, 60-68, with 1:40 to play. But that was the best the Meteors could do as the Ninos reeled back into contention to defend the leg championship in its home turf.

 “We have a long proud tradition of winning here in Cebu and we will not just surrender our homecourt that easily,”said Alcoseba. “It will be do-or-die tomorrow for all the teams and Cebu will be ready.”

The game came at a cost as big men Erian Daja and Ariel Mepana were thrown out for fighting fouls with 5:16 in the fourth period after a rebound scuffle and the Ninos on top, 64-52.

Basco paced the Ninos with 17 points and 12 rebounds followed by Ron Capati with 11 and Padilla with 10. Yee led the Meteors with 16 points and seven rebounds followed by Mark Kong with 12 points and six rebounds.

The Buddies victory in the first game further tightened the the battle with the Batang Global while dimming the hopes of idle contenders Iloilo Mang Inasals and Gensan Warriors for the eighth and last playoff berth in the upcoming National Playoffs of the conference supported by Smart, ML Kwarta Padala, Air 21, Accel, Burlington, Laptop Phoneshop Exchange, Nature’s Spring and Molten and sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).