Harbour stays unscathed; Toyota scores

Harbour Centre rode on a stirring second quarter blitz to crush Hapee Toothpaste, 88-69, and keep its unbeaten run in the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

After a slow start, the Batang Pier came through with a big run in the second period to rip the game apart en route to their sixth straight victory and eight overall victory since beating the Complete Protectors in the finals last conference.

“We just took away their strength and pressured them a lot. We also challenged their shooters,” said Harbour coach Jorge Gallent. “And good thing, our outside shooting clicked.”

Jonathan Fernandez and Jason Castro topscored for Harbour with 22 and 15 points, respectively.

Earlier, Jonathan Aldave and Ronald Bucao combined in the final quarter as Toyota Otis beat San Mig Coffee, 92-86, to end a five-game skid.

Aldave scored seven straight points in the fourth, including a triple, before the 5-foot-6 Bucao drained another trey to cap a big 10-3 run for Toyota, which took an imposing 79-65 lead.

Bucao capped his heroics by making all his four free throws while Aldave added two more charities to seal the team’s first-ever win.

The Coffee Kings slipped to 2-4.

“Hopefully, this will be the start of something good for the team,” said Toyota coach Ariel Vanguardia.

From a tight 16-10 lead in the first quarter, the Batang Pier unloaded 24 points in the second quarter, which Fernandez highlighted with back-to-back triples to post a commanding 40-24 lead.

The Complete Protectors never recovered from that big Harbour blitz as TY Tang, Jeff Chan, Chad Alonzo and Jerwin Gaco joined the fray to complete the Batang Pier domination of their arch rivals.

The scores:

First Game

Toyota Otis 92 – Jaime 17, Bucao 16, Aldave 13, Villanueva 10, Dedicatoria 8, Rodriguez 8, Cuan 6, Cabahug 5, Sta. Maria 3, Berame 2, Faundo 2, Sena 2, Balgos 0, Tan 0.

San Mig Coffee 86 – Custodio 23, Alcaraz 12, Balneg 11, Arao 9, Raneses 9, Del Rosario 6, Bolocon 5, Mabayo 4, Dalafu 3, Solis 2, Saldua 2, Losentes 0.

Quarterscores: 19-17; 37-38; 69-62; 92-86

Second Game:

Harbour 88 – Fernandez 22, Castro 15, Tang 10, Chan 8, Alonzo 7, Mercado 7, Gaco 7, Vergara 6, Belga 4, Gamboa 2, Ababou 0, Bautista 0, Malabanan 0.

Hapee 69 – Cruz 15, Rodriguez 12, Norwood 10, Espiritu 7, Mercado 6, Saguindel 6, Borboran 4, Viray 4, Juntilla 2, Grijaldo 2, Quinday 1.

Quarterscores: 16-10; 40-24; 61-44; 88-69.