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Hapee commits theft in Batangas City
By Jonas Terrado (May 23, 2008)

Hapee Toothpaste should have had a low-key 2-3 hour bus ride back home reflecting on the what-ifs.

But lo and behold, they were probably in a jovial but cautious mood during their trip after stealing Game 1 away from Harbour Centre in the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup finals at the Batangas City Sports Center.

Who would have thought that a battle-tested team like the Batang Pier would suddenly collapse with such magnitude while the less-favored Complete Protectors erupted when needed after an anemic showing in the third quarter?

With their pulsating 74-73 victory, Hapee's Michael Scofield-like act led by performances from namely Larry Rodriguez, Mark Borboran, and Gabe Norwood could be the turning point of this best of-five showdown, but still head coach Louie Alas remains wary for the second game this Saturday.

'This doesn't mean anything yet in a best-of-five series. We expect Harbour to bounce back in Game 2,' Alas said after their stunning win in front of a full house crowd.

At first, Hapee was in the thick of the fight as usual, playing tooth-for-tooth against the heavy-armed Harbour squad.

But despite Borboran nailing a three-point play off an alley-oop pass from Norwood for a 29-27 count in the second period, they suddenly disappeared.

Their shooting and defense went sour and lost its assertiveness. On the other hand, the four-time champions played their usual aggressiveness with Jason Castro, Jerwin Gaco, and Chad Alonzo leading the charge.

By the middle point of the third period, it was all Batang Pier with a 63-45 advantage and appears to have to taken the driving seat, or what many the 6,000 capacity crowd and a countless more that saw the delayed broadcast on television thought.

Slowly, Hapee cut the lead into single digits with Borboran nailing a triple from the left side while Larry Rodriguez, who mustered 18 points and 10 rebounds before leaving the game due to cramps, provided damage inside. Still, the Batang Pier was still dictating the tempo of the action even at the three-minute mark when they had a 71-63 edge.

However, what looks like a calm and collected situation for Harbour Centre became a relaxed and unattended scenario in a span of two minutes as the Complete Protectors' began to impose their team monicker, forcing several key stops and making timely baskets.

Then, Hapee got what they wanted since the first half. A rare bobble by Castro near midcourt in front of Eugene Tan and Norwood allowed the latter to score easily for a one-point deficit, 73-72.

And with 39.1 seconds to go, Jonathan Fernandez drove to the basket way too early on the shot clock and missed. This allowed Norwood and Borboran to work yet another two-man game as the UE standout received a lob pass deep into the baseline, but still got his foot in control to score a reverse stab, and the go-ahead lead with 21.5 ticks remaining.

With that, momentum went their way till the end. TY Tang committed an offensive foul against Alfie Grijaldo on the baseline before Castro, who scored 13, struggled on a last ditch attempt against a strong defense in the paint.

While it made a role-reversal of the epic comeback by Harbour Centre in the deciding game of the championship last conference from 20 points, obviously a sweet revenge for the yellow-clad squad would be a championship nonetheless. Now they are just two wins away from doing so.

Hapee had a sigh of relief it was probably a long bus ride back to Manila for the Batang Pier, pondering on the what-ifs and the possible scenes to expect in this titular showdown.

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