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Harbour Overwhelms Pharex
(November 9, 2008)
Games Tuesday
(Ynares Sports Center, Pasig City)
2 p.m. – Harbour Centre vs Toyota Otis
4 p.m. – Bacchus vs Hapee Toothpaste
6 p.m. – Discovery-RP vs Oracle-FEU
Harbour Centre opened its bid for a record
sixth straight title in devastating style, drubbing
Pharex, 83-66, at the start of the 2009 PBL PG Flex
Linoluem Cup yesterday at the Ynares Sports Center.
Despite missing maruqee players like three-time
MVP winner Jason Castro, Sol Mercado, Ty Tang and Beau
Belga who all turned pro recently, the Batang Pier remained
a force to reckon as gleaned by their performance yesterday.
They were off to a big start then wavered
a bit before picking up momentum in the third that set
the tone for a rout.
“We got our defense in the middle
of the third quarter, so that was the story of the game.
I got the points we needed from almost everybody,”
said Gallent. “My rookies played just like seasoned
players.”
Gallent was particularly happy with the
way Far Eastern University’s Mark Barroca and
Neil Cervantes played.
Even comebacking Reed Juntilla made his
presence felt right away by scoring a team-high 21 points,
9 of them in a torrid third quarter that helped rip
the game apart.
So tough was Harbour Centre’s defense
they held the Generix to just seven points in the payoff
period with only three players scoring..
The 6-foot-4 Cervantes showed great promise
by knocking down 14 points and six rebounds while the
5-foot-7 Barroca added 11 points, five rebounds, four
assists and two steals in a brilliant all-around show.
Chris Ross, the player Pharex made as
the No. 1 pick, did well by also drilling in 21 points
but his performance was not enough to lift the Generix.
He also also had five assists and four rebounds in 31
minutes of action.
The hour-long ceremony was highlighted
by the tribute given to former league MVP Romel Adducul
and Major Naz Cablayan with the pro league star getting
the “Gawad Katibayan” and the firefighting
officer taking the “Gawad ng Paglilingkod”.
Adducul, who is fighting a battle with
the Big C (nasal cancer), was teary-eyed when he received
his award while Cablayan was honored for his gallantry
during a fire accident in Caloocan a few months back
where his left arm was badly hurt.
Aside from the two, former league chairman
and Hapee Toothpaste owner Dr. Cecilio Pedro was also
feted for his continued support to the league, having
been in the country’s premier amateur league for
15 years now.
He received his award from Commissioner
Chino Trinidad and current chairman Mikee Romero of
Harbour Centre, who officially declared the season-opening
tournament open.
Ross and Matias led the Generix in the
first half action by knocking in 13 points apiece, most
of them in the second quarter where they took control
of the tempo of the game.
Also gracing the affair were Rizal Gov.
Jun Ynares and movie star Cesar Montano, the main endoser
of PG Flex Linoleum.
The Batang Pier got off to a fiery start
as they raced to an early 10-1 lead but the Generix
came through with several spurts that made the game
out of it.
With Juntilla grabbing eight boards, two
of them offensively, and Gaco adding seven, the Batang
Pier dominated the battle of the boards, 27-16. But
they failed to take advantage of that due to poor shot
selection. |
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