Niños cop Liga leg title over Stallions

MANILA, Philippines - Veteran Bruce Dacia went 9-of-13 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line to lead the M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños to an 88-74 victory over Laguna and bag the very physical Cebu leg championship of the 2009 Smart-Liga Pilipinas Conference 3 held at the Cebu Coliseum late Saturday evening.

Out to regain the national title they relinquished to the MisOr Meteors last conference, the Niños swept the inaugural leg on their own home turf in convincing fashion and broke a string of setbacks by home teams dating back to Conference 2.

Cebu thus garnered 15 Tour points to jumpstart its campaign in the Conference presented by Smart Sports and supported by Accel, Molten, Magnolia Purewater, Air21 and Pagcor.

“The loss in Game 5 of the National finals last conference is actually still fresh in our minds especially since it happened in our homecourt. That’s why I challenged the team to play with more pride. And they did,” said Cebu head coach Yayoy Alcoseba.

Dacia’s torrid offensive stance complemented M. Lhuillier’s 60 percent shooting percentage – 7-of-16 from the three point area and 21-of-31 at the 2-point field while scoring 25 points from the free throw line.

He was named leg MVP after the game for scoring 24 points on top of four rebounds, four assists and one shotblock in 37 minutes of play.

Laguna fought hard early behind its three-point shooting to take a 23-20 lead early in the second, after the first quarter ended at 15-all.

Foul troubles plagued the Niños early in the second period. But Dacia and Richard Ian Saladaga came to the rescue of Cebu and Laguna failed to capitalize on this situation.