BAGUIO CITY — Defending champion Harbour Centre found its rhythm just in time to complete a come-from-behind 69-55 win over San Mig Coffee and moved to within a victory of claiming a fifth straight finals berth in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) at the University of Cordillera gym here.
Struggling on the offensive end in the first three quarters, the Batang Pier roared back to life in the pivotal fourth when TY Tang and Jason Castro conspired in a game-turning 13-1 run that signaled the beginning of the end for the hard-fighting Coffee Kings.
Now with a 2-0 lead in the semifinals series of the Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup, the Batang Pier can go for the clincher and make it back to the championship round when Game 3 of the best-of-five showdown goes to Muntinlupa City on Thursday.
Harbour Centre won the opener Friday, 76-74, in Tarlac City.
Hapee Toothpaste also made it 2-0 in its separate showdown with Burger King by scoring an 86-66 triumph in the second game.
Reed Juntilla scored 9 of his game-high 30 points in the third period where the Complete Protectors pulled away for good, 59-49, after a tightly-fought first half.
Hapee fashioned out the win even in the absence of rookie big man Jervy Cruz (hamstring injury
"We played lousy for the first three quarters. We were not distributing the ball well," Batang Pier coach Jorge Gallent said.
"We didn’t really played aggressive until the fourth quarter," added Gallent, obviously relieved as the Batang Pier again managed to survive despite struggling for the second straight game.
Before going full speed in the fourth, the Batang Pier trailed by as many as 28-39 in the third quarter and were staring at a 43-47 deficit early in the final period..
Then Tang and Castro took over.
Castro, seeking a third Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in his final year in the league, scored six straight points, before Tang hit seven consecutive in a big offensive blitz that finally had Harbour Centre taking command, 5648, with 3:47 left.
Tang, whose two acrobatic shots readily brought the house down, then put the finishing touches to Harbour Centre’s searing rally with a long two for a 62-50 lead.
"We were really lax on defense. Kapag nagkaproblema kami dito (defense), our offense suffers. Hopefully, we can play more consistently in Game 3," Gallent said.
Castro, Tang and Richard Alonzo finished with 12 points each to pace the Batang Pier, who were awful from the field in the first half, shooting just 39 percent (9-of-23) including 1-of-9 from three-point range.
The scores:
First Game
HARBOUR CENTRE 69 — Alonzo, 12, Castro 12,Tang 12, Fernandez 10, Belga 9, Mercado 7, Chan 3, Asoro 2, Malabanan 2, Bautista 0, Gamboa 0, Gaco 0.
SAN MIG COFFEE 55 — Alcaraz 18, Raneses 12, Custodio 11, Saldua 10, Balneg 2, Dela Cuesta 2, Losentes 0, Arao 0, Solis 0, Del Rosario 0.
Quarters: 13-15, 26-31, 43-45, 69-55.
Second Game
HAPEE TOOTHPASTE 86 — Juntilla 30, Borboran 13, Norwood 10, Saguindel 9, Mercado 5, Grijaldo 5, Viray 5, Espiritu 4, Rodriguez 3, Tan 2, Ranises 0, Quinday 0, Daa 0, Hugnatan 0.
BURGER KING 66 — Arellano 17, David 12, Santos 11, Misa 8, Ballesteros 6, Bravo 5, Gregorio 4, Popus 3, Bonus 0, Baluyot 0, Barcellano 0, Angeles 0.
Quarters: 23-22, 40-36, 61-48, 86-66.
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