INQUIRER Sports

Games today:

Cebu Coliseum

5 p.m. ? Quezon vs. Laguna

7 p.m. ? Cebu vs. Pampanga

The M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños continued their overwhelming show of dominance in the 2009 Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference 3, as they barged into the finals with a 78-54 decimation of the reigning national champions Misamis Oriental Meteors in the Super Leg yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

The win was the Niños' 19th straight in this tournament and it put them in the championship round on Sunday regardless of the result of their game today against the winless Smart-Pampanga Buddies.

Cebu pounced on the Meteors from the get-go and never let go of their hold of the lead as they held their opponents to just seven points in the first period and built on that until the final buzzer.

Mark Magsumbol led cebu with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field while Marlon Basco added 13 markers. Woodrow Enriquez and Ian Saladaga each had 10 points.

After leading 13-7 after the first 10 minutes of play, the Niños erected a 13-point lead, 27-14, after back-to-back three-point shots by Magsumbol and Enriquez.

But the Meteors showed some fight in them as they trimmed the lead to seven, 20-27, after six unanswered points. The Ninos though, shrugged the momentary lapse off and rattled off an 11-1 run anchored on two trifectas by Magsumbol that put them up, 38-21, at the turn.

The Niños continued their onslaught and pushed the lead up to a high of 29, 65-36, and cruised to the win, their third straight in the Super Leg.

The defeat was also the Meteors' first in the aforementioned stage and came on the heels of their 91-76 bashing of the Quezon Red Oilers late Wednesday night.

Typifying the Meteors' struggles all game long was the fact that nobody scored in twin digits for them.