H Centre shuts off Kettle Korn

JC Intal produced a performance worthy of his status yesterday as Harbour Centre made it two in a row by clobbering Kettle Korn, 85-66, in the 2007 PBL Silver Cup at the UST gym.

Their loss to the UST Tigers in the UAAP finals already a thing of the past, Intal debuted impressively for the Port Masters as he fueled a big run in the third which he capped with a booming triple to turn a close contest into a rout.

Chico Lanete led Harbour with 14 points but the limelight simply belonged to the King Eagle.

He tallied only nine points but coach Jorge Gallent was already satisfied with his performance, considering that he joined the team only last Sunday.

He capped his performance with a two-handed dunk that saw the crowd explode in approval.

"He’s still adjusting to my system but watch him in our future games," beamed Gallent.

In the first game, Eugene Tan came through with a huge three-point shot at crunch time as the TeleTech Titans brought the Mail & More Comets down to earth, 79-70.

Out to erase the stigma caused by their shocking loss to the Toyota Otis Sparks last week, the Titans buckled down to serious business right away, imposing their will inside and outside to lead by as many as 22 points behind the red-hot shooting of Al Magpayo and Ariel Capuz.

But when the Comets got into their game and threatened to turn the game around, the Titans turned to their veterans who responded with clutch plays to stave off Mail & More’s determined fightback.

The Comets dropped to 1-2. Almost given up for the dead after trailing the Titans, 42-20, late in the second quarter, the Comets streaked their way back into the contest through the gutsy efforts of Michael Bravo and Ronjay Buenafe.

A 7-0 run capped by Bravo’s booming three-point shot pushed the Comets to within 68-72.

That run also saw their fans explode in utter excitement.

Howevere, Tan, a veteran of many championships, silenced Mail & More supporters by knocking in his first triple of the game after missing his earlier two attempts.

Francis Mercado, another grizzled veteran on the roster of coach Jerry Codiñera made it 77-68 after Buenafe bungled his open shot from way behind the 3-point arc barely 58 ticks left.

"We’re still struggling in our game but I’m glad we won this one," said Codinera. "I just hope we can play better in our next games.

The 6-foot-5 Magpayo finished with 17 points, 11 of them in a torrid first quarter performance that helped the Titans build a 25-14 advantage. Capuz tallied eight of his 15 markers in the second canto.

Also helping the cause of the Titans was the inability of the beefy 6-foot-5 JR Quinahan to dominate the shaded area this time.

After averaging 11.5 points and close to 10 rebounds in their first two games, Quinahan was limited to just seven points and the same number of rebounds — thanks to the rock-solid defense of Magpayo and Alfie Grijaldo. Bravo paced the Comets with 14 points, 10 of them in the payoff period as he sparked several spurts for the team.