Niños near Liga history, pummels Taguig anew to take to take 2-0 lead in best-of-five finals series

CEBU - The M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños moved within a win of sweeping the 2008 Smart-Liga Pilipinas Finals after beating Harbour Centre-Taguig, 78-69, last night at theCebu Coliseum.

The Niños, who hold homecourt advantage in the best-of-five championship series backed by Rexona, Accel, Burlington, Molten, Metathione, Nature Spring, Pagcor Sports and Laptop Phoneshop, seek to complete their demolition of the Batang Global in Game Three Thursday at the C.P. Tinga gym in Taguig.

Taguig will host Game Four, if necessary, with the fifth and deciding Game Five returning to Cebu where the Niños are nearly invincible.

“Our defense held their inside game. Although the shooting percentages are low, we clipped their offense with good defensive game,” said Cebu coach Yayoy Alcoseba. “What is important now is how we will close the series. As much as possible we will end the series in Game 3 but we know they are capable of giving us a tough time also.”

Cebu took the half, 37-30, using a 17-1 run early in the game after trailing, 8-3.

Paul Reguerra buried consecutive three-point shots to spark Taguig’s opening salvo. But as in Game One when they used a tightened defense en route to a 98-78 rout, the Niños put the clamp on the Batang Globals’ scorers to pull ahead, 23-11, at the end of the period.

Cebu established a 16-point lead early in the second quarter before Jonathan Aldave, Marvin Ortiguerra and Boyet Bautista combined for 11 straight points to cut the deficit, 31-28, a little less than three minutes remaining in the half.

Gerry Cavan, picking up the role essayed by Ian Saladaga in the opener, sank back-to-back triples as the Niños protected a 37-30 lead at the intermission.

Cebu went out strong in the third period with a 13-5 run to reestablish a 16-point margin, 53-37, with 5:30 left to play.

Taguig fought back with a 14-5 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to come within, 58-54, before Cebu strung seven unanswered points to put order back in the contest.

Neither team shot well in the first half, Cebu going 12 of 37 and Taguig 10 of 31. The Niños dominated the boards, 28-18, to atone for 11 turnovers.

Aldave led all scorers with 15 points. Bruce Dacia and Ron Capati paced Cebu with 13 points each followed by Mark Ababon with 11 markers.

The scores

Cebu (78) - Capati 13, Dacia 13, Ababon 11, Aying 8, Padilla 8, Enriquez 6, Cavan 6, Mepaña 5, Saladaga 4, Enriquez 4, Basco 3, Berami 3

Taguig (69) - Aldave 15, E. Rodriguez 11, Reguerra 10, Bautista 9, Matias 7, Ortiguerra 6, Bombeo 5, Gatumbato 4, Marquez 2

Quarterscores:23-11, 37-30, 58-49, 78-69 (THE FREEMAN)