Niños perfect, dominate Liga conference

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños bucked foul trouble to its key players but leaned on experience in the clutch to repeat over host Misamis Oriental Meteors, 82-77, and bag the Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference title at the packed Xavier University gym Saturday.

Ian Saladaga, Marlon Basco and Bruce Dacia combined for six straight free throws as the Niños broke away from 71-all to seize the lead for good at 77-71 with 1:48 left.

The win was a repeat of the Niños’ 80-79 win Friday night in the leg elims and avenged their previous series loss to the Meteors in the national finals last conference.

Power forward Ariel Mepana led the Niños with 18 points, four rebounds and four assists.

The Niños remained undefeated in eight games in this conference backed by Smart, Accel, Molten, Calcium-Cee, Gatorade, Air 21 and Burlington and sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

They posted a perfect 30-point aggregate after two legs to pull away in the overall standings. The Meteors earned seven points in their debut performance this conference.

Meanwhile, Cebu Landmaster-Mandaue salvaged third place and three tour points with their second straight win over the MP Warriors of GenSan, 65-62.

Jerome Cenita led Mandaue with 22 points followed by John Paul Alcaraz with 11. Dondon Tadena was the top scorer for the Warriors with 13 while Weng Farochillen added 12 points and five rebounds.

Meanwhile, action in the Liga Pilipinas Tour shifts to the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City on Wednesday for the Quezon province leg.

For details and schedules, log on to www.ligapilipinas.net.