Saturday, July 26, 2008 Padilla lifts Cebu past Quezon, 77-57
STEPHEN Padilla was firing hot all game long and the M. Lhuillier-Cebu Niños displayed unforgiving defense to frustrate Quezon, 77-57, win in the Iloilo Leg of the 2008 Liga Pilipinas Championships at the Pototan Astrodome in Pototan, Iloilo.
The victory was a statement for the Niños who lost their opening day game to the Pagadian Explorers, 91-80, last Wednesday.
Quezon kept the Niños within reach for the first 20 minutes, allowing the Cebuanos to lead 20-14 in the opening quarter and cutting it to 38-42 at the half.
However, Cebu was just warming up as the next 10 minutes became the most trying for the Red Oilers.
Using their unrelenting full court trap, the Niños held Quezon to the league’s lowest production in a quarter—five points—and broke the game wide open after scoring 23 in the third.
Cebu proved that they too are very dangerous from the 3-point area as they sank 12-of-35 from the arce, with Padilla hitting 7-of-11 attempts to lead all scorers with 22 points.
Jonathan Piñera led Quezon with 16 points.
In the main game, home team Iloilo Mang Inasals stayed as the lone undefeated team after beating Pagadian Explorers, 84-69.
Chito Jaime scored 20 points, Jhornel Laborte added 18 and Francis Barcellano and Nestor David finished with 11 for Iloilo’s second win in as many games.
Mark Yee topped Pagadian with 12 points.
Meanwhile, in the Tolentino Sports Center in Tagaytay, Eric De la Cuesta shot 10-of-17 from the field to score 31 points on top of 12 rebounds, to lead Misamis Oriental Meteors to a 92-81 win over the Batangas. (RCM)
