Meteors, Niños sparkle in TOP 8th leg opener

Host Misamis Oriental played inspired basketball all throughout the game as they routed Ascof Lagundi, 94-70, in the opening of the 8th leg Tournament of the Philippines at the Xavier University Gym in Cagayan de Oro. A dizzying 20-0 blast in the early part of the second period was all the Meteros needed in turning a close game into a rout and dumping the Natural Cough Busters. “This is our homecourt and we didn’t want to let the crowd down. All the players are really inspired to play," said Meteors coach Jun Noel. True to his words, Noel and his wards didn’t disappoint the hometown cheering crowd with ex-pro Neil Raneses leading the way. Raneses finished with 16 points and 11 boards to lead a balance attack by the Meteors, who are deadest in winning this leg which is considered the toughest leg with powerhouse Lhuillier Kwarta Padala Cebu and Hobe Bihon-Taguig completing the cast. “We have to protect our homecourt and we will do everything to make sure that we protect it," added Noel, who led the Jojo Lastimosa-led Mama's Love to the championship in the old PABL. The Niños also served notice of its intention to give the host team a good battle as they pulled off an 82-77 victory over Taguig in the other game. Warren Ybañez took the cudgels for the Cebu squad as he hit the go-ahead triple and scored a lay up that ended a spirited rally by Taguig, which clawed back from 40-51 advantage. Taguig even took a 69-67 lead on back-to-back jumpers by Jeff Sanders. Ariel De Castro’s putback gave his team a 71-70 advantage, Taguig’s last taste of the lead. “Our bench did not step up for this game. I hope to see improvements in this team in our next game," said coach Raul Alcoseba, who is still smarting from an 81-63 rout they suffered to Cobra in the finals of the last leg. - RCJ, GMANews.TV