All-Cebu final features two sister teams

CEBU City — Sister squads M. Lhuillier and ML Kuarta Padala breezed past separate rivals on Friday to set up an all-Cebu finals in the Cebu Basketball League (CBL) Crunchtime at the New Cebu Coliseum here.

Coming off a loss to ML Kuarta on Thursday, the Jewelers bounced back hard with a 107-85 rout of North Cotabato Braves while the Cash Forwarders defeated Montana Pawnshop with relative ease, 84-73.

M. Lhuillier showed too much class against the off-form Braves who never had a chance to pose a threat in the entire game. The Jewelers led by as much as 22 points twice, the last at 103-81 with one minute and 29 seconds to go.

The best the Braves could muster was a 3-2 early lead and a 12-all deadlock. Marata’s jumper gave M. Lhuillier the upperhand and it was an all-Jewelers show from thereon.

Underscoring a balanced offensive, five Jewelers scored in double figures led by Aldrin Ocanada, and Bong Marata, who had 19 points each.

ML Kuarta coach Eddie Ybanez vowed to repeat over the Jewelers in this tourney supported by Osaka Iridology, Arthro, Guardosoft and M. Lhuillier Pawnshop.