Free shots make Hapee win

Hapee Toothpaste scored only four free throws and nothing else in the last six minutes but these were enough for the reigning champion to beat Blustar Detergent, 55-49, for a seat in the 2004 PBL Unity Cup semifinals at the Letran Gym yesterday.

Emerson Oreta led all scorers with 14 points, including the four pressure-packed charities in the final 85 seconds as the Teeth Sparklers repeated over the Detergent Kings in a low-scoring contest to close out their elimination round stint with a 5-5 win-loss record.

In the other game, Montana Pawnshop came up with an explosive fourth-quarter performance to force a rubbermatch with Toyota Otis-Letran with a 71-60 victory in their fight-marred tiff.

Montana’s Al Magpayo was nearly mobbed after he warded off the hand of Ronjay Enrile at the end of the game -- a move that angered the supporters of the host team.

"We’re always struggling but I have to give it to my boys, they did their best to win this game," said Hapee coach Junel Baculi. "We have to enjoy this win today because next week we have to work doubly hard to catch up with the early semifinal qualifiers."

Carrying over their 5-5 card into the semis, the Teeth Sparklers may need to win at least four games in the next round to have a crack at the finals.

"The real work begins next week," said Baculi, who is bidding to give the Lamoiyan franchise its third straight title since winning the event last year at the expense of Viva-FEU.

Also sparkling for the Teeth Sparklers was Olan Omiping who had a triple and a drive-in layup in a back-breaking 12-5 run that had the team posting a commanding 51-40 lead with 5:56 left.

"He’s our impact player," said Baculi. "Nobody is scouting him so I gave him some good minutes today and he responded well."

The Teeth Sparklers, however, failed to buy a single basket for almost five minutes, allowing the Detergent Kings to close in at 49-51 on an easy layup by Erick dela Cuesta following an error by Hapee’s Eugene Tan with 34.2 ticks left.

But Oreta restored order for the Teeth Sparklers when he calmly hit two free throws that gave them a 53-49 lead with 13.2 ticks left. He sealed the win with two more gift shots following another miscue by Blustar.