League MVP sends Harbour closer to 5-peat

TANAUAN City, Batangas – Moments after bagging his third MVP, Jason Castro played  a game worthy of the award as he fired 28 points to steer Harbour Centre closer to a record fifth straight crown with a 90-78 victory over Hapee Toothpaste in Game 2 of the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup finals here yesterday.

Castro also pulled down seven rebounds, came through with seven assists and made two steals in a sterling performance that gave the Batang Pier a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series at the packed Jose P. Laurel Gym.

“Jason showed that his MVP award is no fluke, he really deserved it,” said Harbour Centre coach Jorge Gallent.

The win thus moved the Mikee Romero-owned franchise a win away from winning an unprecedented fifth straight title in the league.

The Batang Pier goes for the clincher tomorrow at the Batangas City Sports Complex.

A Hapee victory, however, will send the series into a winner-take-all match on Saturday, also in Batangas City.

While Castro provided the spark, Beau Belga supplied the clutch baskets as he scored six of his eight points in the final five minutes as Harbour broke away from a 72-all count en route to the victory.

Harbour, which controlled the first half, 42-33, actually wavered at resumption of the contest, missing perimeter shots and turning the ball over a number of times.

That enabled the Complete Protectors, behind Larry Rodriguez and Reed Juntilla, to counter and wrest a 64-62 lead behind a 31-20 blitz heading into the final quarter.

Castro, who earlier bagged his third straight MVP title, scored 10 points in that stretch, somewhat preventing a big Hapee run.

The next five minutes saw the two teams engage in a see-saw battle marred by some rough fouls as the game headed into a down-to-the-wire ending at 72-all, with a little over five minutes left in the match.

But the Batang Pier pounced on Rodriguez’s sidelining following a flagrant foul on Belga, who in turn stepped for Harbour with his clutch baskets down the stretch.

The Batang Pier dominated the Complete Protectors with a barrage of three-pointers in the first half to lead by as many as 10 points, the last at 39-29, late in the period.

Castro sizzled with 17 points after the first two quarters, including three triples as he went six-of-six from the foul line, helping power Harbour to a 42-33 lead at the turn.