Niños edge Meteors, even series

MANILA, Philippines - M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu stayed focused all game and went on to pull off a 58-55 victory over Misamis Oriental and even their best-of-five series for the Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference II crown at one game apiece at the Xavier University gym in Cagayan de Oro Wednesday.

With the victory, the Niños virtually stole the homecourt edge since they will host the Meteors in Games 4 and 5 at the University of San Carlos-Main gym in Cebu City.

However, the Meteors stole a thrilling 69-68 win over the Niños at the USC gym last March to claim the Cebu City leg title during the Tour Phase.

“Game 2 was a must win for us and we’re happy the boys rose to the challenge. Now they will have to take the crown away from us in our own homecourt,” said Cebu coach Raul Alcoseba.

Bruce Dacia buried a triple to give the Niños their biggest lead of the contest, 54-40, with 7:15 in the balance.

But the Meteors refused to give up and struck back with their own 12-0 run to threaten at 52-54 with 1:50 left in the contest.

Mark Yee canned in two free throws off the fifth and final foul of Abby Santos as MisOr threatened for the last time, 55-57. But Dacia came through with a split and the Niños watched Yee flub an off-balanced three point attempt at the buzzer.

Making up for their listless performance in the series opener won by the Meteors, 70-64, the Niños seized control early, 21-15, behind Liga MVP Marlon Basco, Jercules Tangkay and Dacia. Cheered on by the crowd, the Meteors closed to within, 40-41, on two Dexter Micutuan free throws with 1:20 to go in the third period. But the Niños countered with a 13-0 binge spanning the third and fourth periods to post a 54-40 lead.

Tangkay finished with 16 points, including nine in the first half, while Dacia had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Basco, who had only a free throw and six rebounds to show in Game One, roared back with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Yee was the lone Meteor in double figures with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Joey Mente was next with nine markers, scoring a field goal in each period.

The Liga Pilipinas National Finals are strongly backed up by Smart, ML Kwarta Padala, Accel, Air 21, Burlington, Laptop Phoneshop Exchange, Pagcor Sports and Molten and sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).