Cebu, Misamis Oriental duel for Smart Liga leg crown

CEBU, Philippines – M. Lhuillier-Cebu and two-leg winner Misamis Oriental beat their respective rivals in similar fashions to arrange a showdown for the Cebu City leg crown in the Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference II at the New Cebu Coliseum Friday.

The Niños held off the Smart-Pampanga Buddies, 89-86, while the Meteors survived the Harbour Centre-Taguig Batang Global, 62-56, in a pair of down-to-the-wire matches.

Cebu and MisOr thus wound up with similar 2-1 win-loss cards while Pampanga and Taguig finished with 1-2 slates in the elims.

Danny Aying came through with crucial baskets, including a 20-foot jumper with 27 seconds left to shove the Niños to an 87-86 lead.

Terrell Theophile and Don Camaso missed back-to-back shots and Marlon Basco pulled down the defensive rebound and drew a foul before sinking his charities for the win.

It was a sorry loss for Pampanga, which led by 10 heading into fourth quarter but cracked up in the face of the Niños’ torrid fightback.

Aying finished with 16 points, highlighted by three triples, while Bruce Dacia also had 16 points for Cebu. Don Camaso and Khiel Misa paced the Buddies with 19 points and five rebounds each.

The league is backed by Smart, ML Kwarta Padala, Air21, Accel, Burlington, Laptop Phoneshop Exchange, Nature’s Spring and Molten.