Niños scuttle Stallions, enter Tournament of the Philippines finals

Still groping for form, M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Cebu showed their capability to bounce back strong and win via the backdoor.

On Thursday, the Niños beat Treston Laguna, 81-70, to barge into the finals of the 2010 Tournament of the Philippines First Leg at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Cebu Niños had another slow start, falling behind by 14 points in the first quarter, but charged back in the second quarter behind their trapping defense to notch their second straight win in the two-day old tournament – a joint tourney of the Philippine Basketball League and Liga Pilipinas.

EX-pros Stephen Padilla and Warren Ybanez struck hard on the offensive end while Mark Magsumbol provided the intangibles for the Niños, who outscored the Stallions, 22-15, in the second quarter to pull away for good.

With the victory, the Niños extended their winning streak to 23 counting the 21 they piled up in sweeping Liga Conference III last year.

Padilla, who played for the Cebu Gems in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association and Alaska Aces in the Philippine Basketball Association, topscored for the Niños for the second straight game with 15 points.

"We're just 75 percent of our true form," said coach Yayoy Alcoseba. "Another slow start for us. Maybe we’re having some difficulties adjusting to an air-conditioned coliseum because my players are slow in terms of heating up."

Padilla had only two triples this time after exploding for eight the last time.

Cebu hasn't played a tournament since bagging its second Liga crown last November.

Worse, the squad lost ace point guard Woodraw Enriquez to a cervical spine injury after a bad fall during an exhibition game.

Ybanez, who was named as the Finals Most Valuable Player when he led the Philippine Patriots to the inaugural ASEAN Basketball League crown last February, also had three assists and four steals.

Magsumbol also had nine rebounds.

The Niños dominated the boards, 56-27, and had more second chance points, 25-11.

Glenn Bolocon, Rob Sanz, Francis Mercado and Leomer Losentes scored 10 points apiece to lead the Laguna cagers, who fell to 0-2.