Niños merciless vs. Ave Maria

The M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños held virtual clinic in hacking out a 111-83 blowout of the Ave Maria Sanctuary Park yesterday in the pre-season games of the Smart-Liga Pilipinas Conference 4 at the Cebu Coliseum.

Games today

(Cebu Coliseum)

5 pm Cebu Niños vs. GenSan

7 pm Laguna Stallions vs. Ave Maria

With a clean 2-0 slate, the Niños of team owner Michel J. Lhuillier and decorated coach Raul “Yayoy” D. Alcoseba are already assured of a final berth and will fight for the championship on Thursday against the winner of last night’s game between the GenSan Pacman MP Warriors and the Trace-Laguna Stallions.

Since jumping off to a blistering 29-18 start, the Niños battered the hapless Ave Maria Sanctuary at will, posting as much as 27 points lead, 70-43, on a triple by Stephen Padilla at the 5:45 mark of the third period.

A buzzer-beating triple by Eliud Poligrates pegged the final count, which was incidentally M. Lhuillier’s biggest lead of the day at 28 points.

Padilla topscored for the Niños with 18 points, all from the 3-point land, while Abby Santos and Mark Ababon banged in 13 and 10 markers, respectively.

Ronald Bucao led Ave Maria with 13 points, while Jabe Delfino and Bobby Hatague each scored 11.

The scores

Cebu (111) - Padilla 18, Santos 13, Ababon 10, Cruz 9, Dacia 9, Enriquez 9, Basco 7, Poligrates 7, Magsumbol 6, Saladaga 4, Mondragon 2

Ave Maria (83) - Bucao 13, Hatague 11, Delfino 11, Aying 9, Luga 8, Ponce 6, Senining 6, Amores 6, Malinao 4, Cavan 4, Gabas 3, Justiniani 2—EBV