Tenorio keys Harbour win over Hapee

LA Tenorio made key defensive stops down the stretch as Harbour Centre pounded out a thrilling 69-63 victory over Hapee-PCU in their playoff match for the second twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals of the 2006 PBL Heroes Cup at the San Andres Gym yesterday.

Given up for lost after trailing by as many as 15 points late in the third quarter, the Teethmasters suddenly came alive and fought back behind the exploits of Beau Belga and Joefferson Gonzales to close in at 63-67 with a little over two minutes remaining in the contest.

Though the Port Masters bungled their four offensive thrusts in the ensuing plays, they still managed to hang on to thwart the Teethmasters and extend their winning streak to five — thanks to the hustling Tenorio.

The former Ateneo standout struck first with 53 seconds left in the game, intercepting a weak pass by Belga. Although Harbour failed to make a decent shot and had a couple of errors, Tenorio came through with another steal, this time from Gonzales with 14 seconds remaining that sent Jay-A Coching to the free throw lane.

Coching calmly hit two free throws to likewise cap his impressive showing for the day.

"We almost collapsed mabuti LA came through with two stops. Those were crucial plays of the game," said coach Jorge Gallent.

With the win, the Port Masters need only to beat the Teethmasters once in their quarterfinals series to advance into the semis. Hapee must beat Harbour two in a row to gain a semis meeting with either No. 1 Rain or Shine or Magnolia Ice Cream.

"We have to play real hard in the next game because I know they will bounce back strong," added Gallent who drew 13 points from bull-strong Robert Reyes.