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Harbour rediscovers killer instinct
By Jonas Terrado (May 27, 2008)

This time, there was no collapse and the Harbour Centre that we used to know came out as they were, not for a stretch of five minutes, nor 10, but for most of the game when needed.

Learning their lessons from their Game 1 meltdown, the Batang Pier reasserted themselves back into the series to foil Hapee Toothpaste in a convincing 93-81 victory that evened the best-of-five finals series of the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup.

In Trece Martires City, Cavite, a 10-20 minute drive away from Aguinaldo Highway, Jason Castro used the Ayong Maliksi gymnasium as his own playground by easily torching the Complete Protectors for 12 points in the key third quarter that put the game away.

Actually, they were down for most of the first half, and 47-42 at the early part of the third period but that was it for Hapee as Castro wowed the capacity crowd with a five steal-showing in which he either made it off a press or from an anticipated lazy pass crosscourt.

The end results were easy breakaways and the margin kept piling up to frustrate the Hapee quintet.

It was not just Castro, Jeff Chan also contributed in that said quarter and made steals and fastbreak finishes in gusto. By the end of the third period, it was all Harbour Centre, up big at 11 points.

But knowing that the Batang Pier didn't want another episode of their defeat in Batangas City, they worked on their defense too. They clogged the shaded lane and limited the production of Game 1 heroes Mark Borboran and Larry Rodriguez.

Borboran was limited to shoot blanks from the outside and had a disappearing act of just four points. Sure, Larry Rodriguez may have his 17 boards but didn't have the same exploits offensively as he was in Game 1 to score just five.

With the lack of inside help, Hapee had no choice but to hit from the outside to no avail, making just 7 shots in 32 attempts from the three-point region.

'We were aggressive until the end of the game,' said Harbour coach Jorge Gallent in a postgame chat with a group of sportswriters. 'In Game 1, we lost because the team played just to protect the lead instead of winning the game.'

With the third quarter as the main story of Game 2, it should be noted too that there were also two key players for the Batang Pier's series tying triumph.

For 12 minutes, Edwin Asoro mustered 10 points andfive rebounds while providing solid support on both ends. On the other hand, Boyet Bautista usually had to share minutes as a floor general together with TY Tang and Al Vergara, but buried four three-point shots to lift the team with 13 points in a starting role.

Now eyeing a 2-1 lead, Gallent now hopes that the same all-out effort shown in Cavite could produce the very same when it invades Tanauan City, Batangas for the crucial third game.

'If we play like this in Game 3, siguro mahihirapan ang Hapee sa amin,' he said.

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