CEBU. – Rising to the challenge of a worthy
opponent, ML Kwarta Padala-Cebu turned back Harbour Centre-Taguig
98-78 Monday to take the opener of the Smart-Liga Pilipinas
Finals at the New Cebu Coliseum.
The Ninos, who hold home court advantage in
the best-of-five championship series backed by Rexona, Accel,
Burlington, Molten, Metathione, Nature Spring, Pagcor Sports
and Laptop Phoneshop, was battling the Batang Global in Game 2
at press time Tuesday.
The two teams leave Wednesday for Game 3 at
the CP Tinga gym in Taguig where Game 4 will be also played,
if necessary. Cebu will host Game 5 if the series goes the
distance.
"Grabe ang shooting nila noong first half,"
said Cebu coach Yayoy Alcoseba. "We really had to tighten our
defense in the third and fourth quarters to gain control.
"Pero wala pa ‘to. Malayo pa. Alam mo naman
ang Taguig, they can easily come back. Remember, they even
swept Misamis Oriental. Malakas na team yon. So we’re still
cautious."
Displaying an unwavering resolve and an
arsenal full of firepower, the Ninos broke away from a tight
first half and never looked back, roaring to a 79-63 lead in
the third quarter behind Jojo Tangkay and Ian Saladaga.
Applying heavy defensive pressure, Cebu
used a 13-6 run at the start of the second half to open a
62-51 advantage with 6:12 left in the third quarter, giving
the Ninos breathing space after a choking first half.
Despite the heavy presence of
fiercely-devoted Cebu fans, the Ninos needed a late
three-point shot from Saladaga to keep the Batang Global at
bay after two quarters 49-46.
Shooting 5-of-6 from the floor, Taguig
raced to a 12-2 start as Marvin Ortiguerra and Paul Reguerra
drained three-pointers each, silencing Cebu fans.
But Tangkay clustered eight straight
points, including two triples, to fire up the Ninos who
grabbed the lead 26-24 on Danny Aying’s 3-pointer.
Guard Mark Ababon then ignited the Ninos’
transition game, orchestrating their fast break and giving
Cebu its biggest lead so far 46-39 at the 2:21 mark.
Bombeo and Erick Rodriguez sliced the lead
at 46-44 with 1:18 remaining before Saladaga buried a
3-pointer and Rodriguez a two-point basket going to the
intermission. Saladaga had 12 points in the second quarter,
coming off the bench.
Both teams made five triples each in the
opening half with Cebu having higher percentage (5-of-10)
against Taguig’s 5-of-12.
Taguig, however, had a better shooting
clip, 20-of-33 (61 percent) to Cebu’s 17-of-34.
The Niños dominated the boards 20-11 and
scored more on fast breaks 14-8, while Taguig had more assists
11-8 and scored more on turnovers 7-5.
