Harbour books 5th final in row

Jason Castro dished out another MVP performance, firing a game-high 25 points, as Harbour Centre repulsed San Mig Coffee, 73-69, yesterday to advance to fifth straight finals appearance in the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex.

Castro, a former two-time MVP, hit a key triple and two free throws down the stretch to complete to power the Batang Pier to a three-game sweep of the Coffee Kings in their best-of-five semifinal showdown.

But while Harbour advanced, arch rival Hapee Toothpaste was frustrated by Burger King, which eked out a 70-69 win in the other Final Four clash.

But the Batang Pier victory didn’t come easy as they struggled against the tough-defending San Mig side like in their hard-earned victories in the first two games of their playoff, 76-74 and 69-55.

Trailing, 66-68, after San Mig’s Eric dela Cuesta scored on a jumper, Hapee relied on Castro, who drained in a triple to shove the Batang Pier to a 69-68 lead.

Bon Bon Custodio tied it again with a split but Castro came up with a pair of charities before the Batang Pier pounced on Custodio’s two crucial turnovers to pound out the win.

Earlier, Burger King kept its poise under pressure to stop Hapee and stay alive in the hunt for a final berth.

Chris Baluyot scored only two points in the tightly fought contest, a shot-clock beating jumper in the last 45 seconds of the game that gave the Whoppers enough cushion at 69-66 for the win.

Hapee still leads the best-of-five series, 2-1, but the Whoppers’ win is expected to further boost their confidence as they gun for the equalizer in Game 4 in Trece Martirez, Cavite tomorrow.

“Now we have a series,” said Burger King coach Allan Gregorio. “We’ll take things one game at a time. We just have to believe in ourselves.”

Khiel Misa paced the Whoppers with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Jason Ballesteros and Abby Santos had 13 points each.

Down by three in the dying seconds, Hapee missed on two straight possessions, including a three-pointer by star guard Gabe Norwood.

Hapee coach Louie Alas took the loss in stride but didn’t hide his disappointment over his wards.

“The boys were not overconfident. They just lost their energy and will to win,” said a dejected Alas in Filipino. “They thought they could beat Burger King by playing a so-so game.”