THE M. Lhuillier-Cebu Niños shot back to the top of the team standings and picked the first of the four automatic slot into the quarterfinal round after winning the Cebu leg of the 2008 Liga Pilipinas Championships last Sunday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The Niños defeated the Smart Pampanga Buddies, 81-73, in a game marred by the dramatic antics of the visitors to earn a total of 13 Liga points to shoot them back to the league leadership with a total of 37 points.
The Niños can earn a maximum of 13 more points to keep the No. 1 spot and enjoy the homecourt advantage in its final elimination assignment in Iloilo City.
“I told the players only one word—determination. Determination to win, determination to rebound, determination to defend. I give it all to the players who really fought that hard to win the game,” said Cebu coach Raul Alcoseba.
Cebu started hot, opening the game 6-0 on its way to establish a 17-7 and 19-9 lead three minutes before the close of the first quarter.
However, Pampanga came back roaring and Cebu’s game dwindled until they found themselves trailing before the end of the first half.
Help
just like in their elimination round meeting, Cebu got a little help from the technical foul slapped against the hot-headed Pampanga bench.
The last time was when Bruce Dacia sank two free throws when Pampanga coach Aric del Rosario made an outburst.
It was at that point that the Cebu crowd felt slighted by Pampanga’s behavior.
However, the worst was still to come.
After Mark Ababon stole possession of the leather and the hometeam’s rebounding resulted to three possessions—Pampanga did what warranted a huge penalty from the league.
Order
The Pampanga players, upon order of their coaching staff, just lined up at midcourt, not bothering to hamper the Niños offense and leading to an easy slam by Dacia.
“They will surely be slapped with sanctions and penalty. What they did was equivalent to a walkout,” said Liga president and CEO Noli Eala.
After the resumption of the game at the final 14.3 seconds of the game – Pampanga players, upon order by its coaching staff, just lined up at the midcourt while the Niños were on offense, as a results Dacia slammed the ball hard.
Water bottles rained against the Pampanga coaching staff and the angry crowd tried to gang up on Del Rosario and company but luckily uniformed policemen were there to keep the peace.
Dacia, who had a brilliant game, topped Cebu scorers with 27 and took his second Best Player of the Leg award.
Up north, home team Quezon Red Oilers defeated Misamis Oriental Meteors 76-68 to pick its first leg title.
