Harbour, Magnolia rout rivals in opener

Harbour Centre and Magnolia Purewater used their experience and height advantage to the hilt yesterday to easily beat their respective rivals at the start of the 2009 PBL PG-Flex Linoleum Cup semifinals yesterday at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig.

The Batang Pier, seeking a sixth straight title, humbled the Hapee Toothpaste Complete Protectors, 85-62, while the Wizards smothered the Bacchus Energy side, 80-66.

Magnolia reaffirmed its mastery of Bacchus while riding heavily on the exploits of Neil Raneses, Dylan Ababou and Al Magpayo.

Jerwin Gaco came through with a double-double game with 15 points and the same number of rebounds, starring in a big third-quarter run that gave the Batang Pier a 20-point spread at 58-38.

The Batang Pier exploded for 26 points in the payoff period that underscored the team’s awesome depth and firepower.

“We played aggressively all throughout, thinking they would get tired having played four straight games,” said Harbour Centre mentor Jorge Gallent.

Reed Juntilla led all scorers with 19 points while Rico Maierhofer also got a double-double performance with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The returning Al Vergara was also a big help as he orchestrated the team’s fluid running game with his court leadership and savvy.

The 5-foot-8 Vergara, who arrived from Singapore only last Tuesday, finished with seven points, eight assists, two rebounds and a steal.

“We brought back Al (Vergara) to beef up our backcourt. Mark (Barroca) is a rookie and not yet fully adapted with the PBL brand of basketball. But in fairness to Mark, he did a good job,” said Gallent.

The 6-foot-4 Jervy Cruz scored 14 points but he was not as effective as he was during their knockout match with Pharex last Tuesday. Chris Tiu was limited to four points.