Meteors halt Niños, bag SMC Liga crown

MANILA, Philippines - Misamis Oriental fought back from seven points down in the third quarter then leaned on Rudy Lingganay’s clutch basket to hack out a 66-60 victory over M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu and capture the SMC Liga Pilipinas Conference V National Championship crown at the jampacked Xavier U gym in Cagayan de Oro Sunday night.

Lingganay hit a crucial 17-foot jumper in the last 22 seconds, giving the Meteors a 66-60 cushion and the victory, their second National Championship in franchise history and the first since Conference II in 2009.

The win also ended the Meteors’ two straight national finals setbacks to the Niños.

Behind by seven points midway in the third, 35-42, the Meteors battled back to grab a 48-45 lead behind 13-3 binge in a run led by Lyndon Gudez. A late basket by Cebu’s Ariel Mepana closed out the third period at 47-48.

Gudez and Lingganay then combined with Ken Bono as the hosts posted their biggest lead at 56-49.

But the Niños refused to give up and forced a 58-all count on Abby Santos’ twinner with 7:05 left in the low scoring contest.

Neil Raneses hit two free throws and Ronald Lamocha scored on a medium range jumper as the Meteors regained the lead then watched the Niños foul up on the foul line with four missed charities to clinch the win.

Lingganay wound up with 10 points and four rebounds while Gudez added nine points.

Allein Maliksi paced M. Lhuillier with 22 points and five rebounds but lacked support from the rest of the team with Ian Saladaga finishing with seven points and 10 rebounds. The Meteors received their trophy from Liga Pilipinas president and CEO Noli Eala with Raneses bagging the Super Leg MVP honors in the league supported San Miguel, Molten, Summit Natural Drinking Water and Accel.

The Liga Pilipinas Conference VI is tentatively set to open on Aug. 17.

“It was a well-deserved victory,” said Meteors team owner Gov. Oscar Moreno. “It could have gone either way but the breaks of the game went our way.” 

For his part, winning coach Jun Noel noted how his team improved throughout the Tour Phase, saying: “This is sweeter because it erases all the frustrations we had in the past.”

Earlier in the day, the Laguna Golden Lions took third place honors by beating the Cebu Landmasters RDAK-Mandaue, 85-77.

Bryan Faundo led the Golden Lions with 20 points followed by Conference V MVP Glenn Bolocon with 15 markers.

Mandaue was led by Vic Manuel with 22 points and seven rebounds while Axel Doruelo added 14 points.