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HARBOUR DYNASTY ROLLING ON, MAGNOLIA NAILS BACCHUS
(January 24, 2009)

Yesterday the PBL PG Flex Cup semifinals got underway, and the Harbour Centre Batang Pier left no doubt that they are well on their way to collecting their sixth straight PBL title. It was a performance so dominating from a team so deep and so loaded that it left little doubt about the championship picture in this PG Flex Cup. So why did they pick Hapee as their semis opponent? This was a team after all that had come pertty close to ending the Harbour Centre title reign. "We decided na whoever came in fourth place, whether Hapee or Bacchus, sila na kakalabanin namin," declared head coach Jorge Gallent in the post-game interview.

Early on it looked like the Hapee Toothpaste Complete Protectors would complete an upset of the PBL's best team as they raced to the early 13 - 6 lead. Center Jervy Cruz, forward Jim Viray and guard Chris Tiu were conspiring beautifully as Hapee displayed fluid ball movement, quick sprinting on transition and active hands disrupting the Harbour Centre passing game. Harbour Centre, coming off a seven-day layoff, looked very tentative and very rusty in the early stages. "I was really worried about us being rusty and it showed in the first few minutes," observed Gallent.

That was about as good as it would get for the Lamoiyan franchise though, as the Batang Pier settled down and then quickly went to town. Harbour Centre leaned on veteran forward Jerwin Gaco's strong moves in the low blocks to erect their first double-digit spread at 39-29 late in the second period. With the bull-strong Gaco dominating under the basket, the Batang Pier were making mincemeat of the relatively smaller Hapee frontline. Gunner Reed Juntilla also got going midway through the second period as he slowly found his range, as did returning pointguard Al Vergara. By the lemontime break, the Batang Pier maintained a solid 43 - 33 distance. Gaco had 11 first-half points to lead the Batang Pier.

In the second half, it was practically the Batang Pier basketball clinic. There was Juntilla taking Jeff Morial and Tiu to school on the fine art of guard play in the PBL. There was Rico Maeirhofer using those long limbs and freakish athletic ability to stymie the inside incursions of the Hapee forwards, grab off-balance rebounds, and stick putback after putback. There was Edwin Asoro picking up on the low blocks where Gaco left off. There was Boyet Bautista and Mark Barroca keeping the ball moving smoothly and swiftly in transition and the halfcourt sets as Vergara rested on the bench. In what seemed the blink of an eye, a lead that was fluctuating between 10, eight and seven points at the start of the third period had turned into a 54-38 bubble late in that quarter. "We were pretty lucky that almost everyone delivered, it was a total team effort for us," said Gallent.

With the Harbour Centre juggernaut in full swing, the Complete Protectors looked completely bamboozled. Tiu and Cruz, two of the best players to come out of the UAAP, conspired with Rowel Hugnatan and Josh Vanlandingham and fought back to bring the lead down to 56 - 44, but that would prove to be the last gasp of the Complete Protectors. They simply would not be able to bring the lead down to single figures anymore.

Harbour Centre poured it on even more in the payoff fourth period, going up as much as 23 points at least thrice, including the final score. Gaco, playing with four personal fouls, would not let his boys take it easy even with such a huge lead. He kept pounding the boards and calling his guards to move the ball. Vergara and Juntilla kept it up on the firing end as they kept busting out on transition to maintain the 20-plus point lead. "We knew they were tired because they played four straight games previous to this one, and Jerwin kept our intensity level up," said Gallent.

By the time the final buzzer sounded it was not just another big win by the best team in the league at 85 - 62. It was a clear message to the other three teams in the Final 4: Harbour Centre has its eyes set on a sixth straight title, and woe be unto any one in the way.Gaco was adjudged the best player with 15 markers and 10 boards, even as Juntilla led all scorers with 19 points. Maeirhofer had 13 points and 12 rebounds of his own to underscore the dominance of the Batang Pier.

Cruz and Hugnatan had 16 and 14 points respectively for the Complete Protectors.

In the second game, Magnolia Pure Water used an explosive third-period to turn back upstart Bacchus Energy Drink 80 - 66 to take Game 1 in their own semifinal series. Former pro Neil Raneses led the way for the Wizards of head coach Koy Banal. Raneses settled down after getting into some shoving and trash-talking early in the frist period against Bacchus center John Foronda. "I told Neil that for sure pipikunin siya, so he should just settle down and laro lang siya, good thing naman he listened," said Banal in the post-game interview.

With Raneses playing off-kilter in the first half, the rest of the Wizards played so-so as well. Bacchus, behind the league's leading scorer in Paul Lee, played excellent on-ball defense, generated turnovers, and ran the fastbreak to erect as much as a double-digit spread at 34-24. Lee got plenty of help building that lead for the Energy Warriors from fellow UE players James Martinez, Hans Thiele and Pari Llagas.

Magnolia veteran center Al Magpayo however kept the Wizards in the fight as he conspired with forwards Dylan Ababou and Eder Saldua and pointguards JP Alcaraz and Yuri Escueta to close in at 36 - 33 at the lemontime break. Magpayo drew out the Bacchus defense with his long shots that allowed Ababou, Saldua, Alcaraz and Escueta to create off the dribble and penetrate.

In the critical third period, Magnolia made its adjustments and went on a 12 - 0 tear that gave them the 52 - 38 lead. Former PCU Dolphin Liztjian Amparado disrupted the Bacchus passing lanes with his quick hands, found the wing players in transition, and nailed a basket here and there as Magnolia found its groove. Forward Neil Pascual also got in on the act as he got good putbacks working the offensive glass.

Lee however would not give up without a fight, as he conspired with Llagas and gunner Patrick Cabahug to go toe to toe in the payoff fourth period. Lee and Cabahug made it 70 - 63 midway through the quarter. Magpayo and Raneses also went down with cramps, and it looked like the Wizards would collapse in the end-game. But Alcaraz and Escueta settled their guys down with intelligent ball handling and patience in setting the offense, even as Ababou and Saldua worked the offensive glass to give the Wizards extra possessions.

"We just wanted to match their intensity. I had this feeling that Bacchus would be more inspired because their coach (Lawrence Chongson) was recently named the UE coach as well, and Bacchus has plenty of UE players," explained Banal. "In the first half I just told them we weren't following our game plan, so I just told them to stick to the plan in the second half and thankfully it worked," added Banal.

Game 2 of both series is this Saturday at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig beginning 2:00 PM.

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