Unbeaten Harbour routs Bacchus

Harbour Centre routed Bacchus with a flurry of baskets in the fourth quarter as it posted a runaway 82-60 victory last night to move a win away from completing a six-game sweep of the first round elims in the PBL PG Flex Linoleum Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Boyet Bautista scattered eight of his 14 points in the final period, fuelling the Batang Pier’s breakaway run from a shaky 55-49 lead to double-digit spreads en route to the victory, their fifth straight in the seven-team field.

Rico Maierhofer topscored for Harbour with 16 points, making the bulk from the close range early in the fourth before Bautista took over the way he did in powering the team past Burger King, 83-70, last Saturday.

The Batang Pier also worked on their defense to shackle the Bacchus backcourt rotation then leaned on Maierhofer and Bautista in the fourth to remain unscathed.

“Our defense kept us afloat and we were not rattled with their strong shooting in the first quarter,” said Harbour head coach Jorge Gallent. “Boyet has been playing well since the last game.”

In the first game, Magnolia Purewater rode on a big run in the second half to complete its domination of Hapee Toothpaste, 86-73, for solo second.

Neil Raneses poured in 10 of his 19 points in a torrid third quarter run by the Wizards, who went on to outscore their rivals, 33-22, in that stretch to pull away for good.

Eder Saldua, Jaypee Alcaraz and Al Magpayo combined for 37 points while the rest backed them up with a gritty defense as the Wizards broke out of a two-way tie with their victim to keep unbeaten Harbour Centre (4-0) within sight with a 3-1 mark

Toyota Otis earlier erased a double-digit deficit to turn back Pharex, 85-82.

Jonathan Aldave scored seven of his 13 points in the final quarter while Erick Rodriguez powered his way to a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds as the Sparks posted their second straight win after three losses while dealing the Generix its fifth straight setback.