Hapee too fast, too much for T’chargers

MALOLOS, Bulacan – Enjoying tremendous advantage in height, heft and speed against Shell, the Hapee Philippine Team practically had a light workout in surging past the Turbo Chargers, 82-69, in their Samsung PBA Governors Cup road game at the CEU Centrodome here last night.

RP Hapee, though still playing with a depleted lineup minus Danny Ildefonso, Andy Seigle and Boyet Fernandez, crushed the boards and rebounded from an 82-90 overtime loss to Red Bull the last time out to regain a spot in the top four with a 4-2 win-loss card.

Shell marked its trip to this historic town with yet another shattering defeat and fell at the bottom of the chart with a 1-5 slate.

Both teams actually started sluggishly but the national hopefuls got their game going in the second quarter and sustained their charge in the final half.

Riding high on the exploits of Jeffrey Cariaso, Rudy Hatfield, Mick Pennisi, Davonn Harp and Johnny Abarrientos, the national hopefuls erected a 14-point halftime lead, 49-35, which they padded to as big as 19, 60-41, midway through the third quarter.

Simply put, it was an all-RP Hapee show from the second quarter onwards.

The Turbo Chargers just couldn’t put up a decent fight with imports Askia Jones and Nantambu Willingham turning in forgettable performances.

Jones was surprisingly gun-shy last night, opting to set up his teammates more, thus, scoring only 12 points. Willingham was an eyesore in the contest, bleeding for eight points.

Jeffrey Cariaso matched the combined output of Jones and Willingham to pace all scorers with Rudy Hatfield adding 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Andy Seigle scored eight points in the first half but never returned in the final half due to injury.

Encountering only a token challenge from Shell, RP Hapee worked with clockwork precision, scoring bulks of baskets on fastbreaks and followups.

Curiously, the national hopefuls top in the league in turnovers with an average of 19 a game, limited themselves to only four errors in taking the 49-35 lead at the half. RP Hapee outrebounded Shell, 21-15, in the first half and scored 14 points off seven offensive caroms.