M. Lhuillier stuns Talk 'N Txt

CEBU, Philippines – The Talk 'N Txt Tropang Texters started the game with a 13-0 run. The final outcome flashed on the electronic scoreboard stood at 101-96 in favor of the M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Cebu Niños.

In a spectacular comeback that is one for the books, the Niños shook off an ice-cold start and then toiled hard in overtime to humiliate the Tropang Texters in their exhibition match witnessed by a sizeable crowd last night at the Cebu Coliseum.

It was a rather unexpected result as the Tropang Texters, armed with a prolific but hot-tempered import Tiras Jamaal Wade, appeared to have sailed to a smooth-sailing victory as they kicked off the game with 13 straight points. Mark Ababon broke M. Lhuillier's six-minute scoring drought by sinking a short-jumper and later Padilla sank back-to-back triple to set the tone for the Niños daring comeback.

But the Niños, living up to their lofty billing as the country's best commercial squad, rallied back with aplomb on the way to tie the count at 75-all and eventually tale a six-point edge, 82-76, on a 9-2 run with 3:39 left in the regulation period. Wade then took matters in his own hands by scoring eight straight points to knot the count at 86-all with 30 seconds left to play.

The Niños actually could have won outright but Woodrow Enriquez missed a looper, thus, the extension.

In the extra five-minute period, things seemed to have gone in M. Lhuillier's favor. After Wade split his charities that pulled TNT within 93-96, Enriquez hit a difficult layup and then issued a lob pass leading to a breakaway layup by Bruce Dacia that gave the Niños a 100-93 breather with 20 seconds remaining. That sealed the Tropang Texters' doom.

The Niños, however, should brace for one big war in their rematch at 3 pm today still at the same venue as the Tropang Texters will surely unleash all the weapons in their offensive arsenal to get even.

Dacia topped the Niños with 23 points, while Padilla and Mark Jonas Ababon chipped in 16 markers apiece. Danny Aying banged in 11 points folollowed by Jojo Tangkay with 10. Wade, who was slapped with a technical foul late in the fourth period for elbowing Ariel Mepaña and shoving Aying, paced Talk 'N Txt with 20 points, while Jimmy Alapag and Renren Ritualo each cashed in 16 points. –THE FREEMAN