MANILA, Philippines – MLKP-Cebu and Misamis Oriental beat their separate rivals in contrasting fashion to forge a showdown for the sixth leg crown of the Tournament of the Philippines Wednesday at the New Cebu Coliseum.
The Cebu Niños bucked Jan Villaver’s career-high 34 points as they carved out a 114-110 victory over Mandaue while the Misamis Meteors defeated the Benedict Fernandez-led Hobe Bihon-Taguig City, 107-92, for their second straight victories in the tournament jointly organized by the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) and Liga Pilipinas.
Cebu and Misamis dispute the top seeding today with the winner getting a two-point bonus for sweeping the elims.
With the win, the Niños extended their winning streak to 27, counting the 21 they posted in sweeping the Third Conference of Liga Pilipinas tournament last year. They won the opening leg of the tournament by winning all their four games.
“MisOr plays very good defense but we’ll try to figure out a way to win. It’s important because of the extra two points given to a team who could score a sweep,” said Cebu coach Yayoy Alcoseba.
Stephen Padilla and Warren Ybanez canned six free throws in the last 2:12 to help the Niños ward off Mandaue’s fightback.