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The M. Lhuillier-Cebu Niños cruised to their fourth leg title after overpowering the Pagadian Explorers, 99-75, in their championship game of the Iloilo leg of the Liga Pilipinas Tour last Sunday at the University of San Agustin gym in Iloilo.
The Niños, thus, continued their dominance over the Explorers, whom they also beat in the championship round of the Pagadian leg. The Niños also won the Ilocos Sur and Cebu legs.
With the win, the Niños will be the number one seed going into the playoffs with 49 points. Cebu will have enjoy a home court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Pagadian settled for second place with 36 points and remains a strong contender for an outright quarterfinal berth.
Beaten by Pagadian in the classification round, Cebu was all-business right from the opening tip as it never looked back after jumping to an early 14-2 lead.
Three-point artist Stephen Padilla won the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award after averaging 17.3 points a game. In the entire tournament, Padilla made 20 out of 46 attempts from the three-point land.
In the other game, host Iloilo Mang Inasals nipped the Quezon Red Oilers, 95-84, to bag the third place trophy.
In the Tagaytay leg over at the Tolentino Sports Center, Niño Marquez scattered 28 points to help Taguig Batang Global bag the championship crown by beating the Lipa-Batangas Barakos, 92-91.
Batang Global, which snatched its second leg title, earned 12 points, while the Barakos got seven points.
The final week of the elimination will be on July 30 to August 3 with the Trace Laguna Stallions hosting Ilocos Sur, Tagaytay-Cavite and Pampanga, and Baguio Victory looking to protect its homecourt edge against Iloilo, Lipa-Batangas and Zamboanga. /Correspondent Calvin D. Cordova
