Monday, September 08, 2008 Taguig cagers take Game One in Liga Pilipinas
TAGUIG -- Ronnie Matias scored 22 points and Taguig's defense held Misamis Oriental to 32 percent shooting as the Batang Global roared to a 92-77 victory over the Meteors Friday in Game One of their Smart-Liga Pilipinas semifinal series at the C.P. Tinga gym here.
Point guard Lou Gatumbato added 17 points with two three-point shots while Jonathan Aldave and Boyet Bautista each had 15.
Game Two was ongoing at press time in the same venue, with the winner of the best-of-five playoffs facing the victor of the Cebu Niños-Lipa Barakos showdown that the team from the south leads, 2-0.
Taguig shot just 3-for-11 from three-point range, but the Batang Global scorched the net from the perimeter, draining 32 of 51 shots for 63 percent.
Ripped out of the comfort zone of their homecourt at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro, the Meteors hit 10 triples but went 19 of 49 from inside the arc.
Ramil Tagupa unloaded 25 points for Misamis Oriental, burying four triples, but no other Meteor teammate was in double figure.
The Batang Global was out-rebounded, 47-42, and evenly matched in second chance points, 11-11. But it outscored the Meteors when it mattered most - in the first quarter, 24-15, and in the fourth quarter, 23-15, never allowing Misamis Oriental any decent chance to spark a rally throughout the match.
