THE winning run of the M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños finally ended at 30 games after the MP-Gen. Santos City Pacman Warriors handed them a KO windup, 79-74, in the seventh leg of the Tournament of the Philippines at the Emilio Aguinaldo College Gym in Manila yesterday.
The Niños scored its 30th win last Wednesday after they handed the host team Cobra Iron Men a 104-81 mastery in the opening match.
Against the Warriors, the Niños couldn’t find their footing.
The Warriors took control for most of the game despite the huge showing of Stephen Padilla, who finished with 21 points.
Padilla scored all his points from the three-point area.
It was Jonathan Parreño who was largely responsible for snapping the longest winning run of a semi-pro basketball team in recent history, a streak that dated back last year.
The last time the Niños lost was on April 20 last year, against the Misamis Oriental Meteors, 64-52, in Game 5 of the Liga Pilipinas Conference 2 Finals.
Parreño, a former Zamboanga Uno Latino shooter, drilled two crucial triples down the stretch to scuttle Cebu’s chances.
Parreño sank the first trey at 3:03 after Bruce Dacia cut the lead to two, 70-68, with a reverse undergoal stab.
Padilla, who sank 7 of 21 from the three point area, answered with a triple to make it 74-71 in the final 77 seconds.
However Parreño wasn’t finished and he doused the last hopes of the Cebuanos with another triple 47 seconds later to secure Gen. Santos’s victory.
The win resurrected the Warriors’ hope of making the finals after they suffered a heart-breaking 77-72 loss to Ani-FCA Cultivators last Wednesday
All four teams are now in a must-win situation today after the Cobra Iron Men defeated Ani Cultivators, 82-80, in the main game yesterday. All four have 1-1 record.