Lhuillier overhauls Toyota Otis

Cebuana Lhuillier-Pera Padala banked on a good start as it smashed Toyota Otis, 95-83, yesterday and boosted its stock in the PBL Silver Cup at the Parañaque Sports Center.

Emer Oreta, playing against his former team, sizzled with 20 points, including 12 from behind the arc, as the Moneymen clinched their third win against four losses.

"After playing catch-up in our first four games, we finally had a good start, and that could be the key," said Cebuana Lhuillier coach Luigi Trillo.

After a draining 90-95 double overtime loss to Mail and More Thursday at the Santo Tomas Gym, Trillo rested Ken Bono and Erick dela Cuesta and fielded Ira Buyco and Cris Viardo. It worked.

Bono, the 2006 UAAP MVP, came off the bench to finish with 16 points and six rebounds while dela Cuesta had 15 points, highlighted by three triples and a game-high eight assists.

"I had to rest them a bit because they played almost 40 minutes in our double overtime loss to Mail and More," said Trillo of Bono and dela Cuesta.

The Moneymen were humming early from the perimeter with five three-point conversions in the first half, three of them coming from dela Cuesta, to go into the break-up at 45-38.

Oreta then teamed up with former Ateneo standout Doug Kramer as the two scored eight points apiece in a blistering run in the third quarter that knocked the senses out of the Sparks.

Credit that to good spacing and Kramer’s all-around play.

"He was also over the court, doing most of the dirty work," said Trillo referring to Kramer, who had 18 points, 11 boards, four assists and a block.

"It also helped that we did a better job in spacing because they were doubling Ken a lot," he added.

Dennis Daa led the Sparks with 19 points but they didn’t have the answer to the Moneymen’s cohesive game and fell to their third loss against the same number of wins.

In the other game, Harbour Centre banked on its cohesiveness as it trounced Magnolia Ice Cream, 72-63, for its third win against many setbacks. The Spinners fell to their fifth loss against two wins.