Harbour Centre grabs historic 5th title at PBL

BATANGAS CITY, Philippines – The Harbour Centre Batang Pier made their mark in sports history on Wednesday by completing their first ever five-peat in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL). The Batang Pier crushed the Hapee Toothpaste Complete Protectors, 86-73, to win the 2008 PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup at the Batangas City Sports Center. The Mikee Romero-owned team now joins two teams that have won at least five championships – Stag Pale Pilsen/Tanduay Rhum with seven and Welcoat Paints with 6. The Batang Pier made a huge 19-0 blitz late in the second quarter as Jason Castro led the onslaught to finally complete a 3-1 series victory. Hapee stole Game 1 with a 74-73 victory after trailing by 18 points in the second half, but Harbour won the last three games with convincing margins. "It's an amazing feeling to win again," said Jorge Gallent, who has coached the team in its entire championship run. "The team made an all-around effort following a disappointing loss in Game 1." Castro, also the league's MVP, made 13 points, nine assists, and three steals to cop the coveted finals Most Valuable Player award. The victory was also a fitting sendoff for Castro, a former standout of the Philippine Christian University and Philippine team, as that game would be the last in his amateur career. Next season, he will start his stint with the Singapore Slingers in the National Basketball League of Australia. "Masaya ako at natapos ang career ko sa PBL na champion (I'm happy to end my PBL career with the team a champion)," Castro said. "Same effort pa rin ang papakita ko kapag naglaro na ako sa Singapore (I'll put in the same effort when I play with the Singapore Slingers)." Castro got support from Jeff Chan, who won the Pivotal Player plum. Chan, a former Far Eastern University standout, tallied 10 points and six rebounds on 3-for-8 from the three-point area. Boyet Bautista and Chad Alonzo also contributed to the Batang Pier victory. The diminutive Baustista led the team with 16 points after a scoreless first half, while putting in four assists and two steals. Down 24-22 with 4:45 left in the second quarter, the Batang Pier scored 19 consecutive points, with Castro accounting ofr seven of them en route to a 41-26 halftime mark. The Complete Protectors committed a total of 15 turnovers in the said half, leading to five steals for the Batang Pier. Larry Rodriguez struggled for most of the first half but ended the game top-scoring for the Complete Protectors with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Reed Juntilla added 16 points while Gabe Norwood had 14 points. Juntilla scored 11 in the first half as Hapee fought hard for the first 15 minutes of the game. Harbour's biggest lead came at 22 points in the third quarter, 59-37, as Chan shot two triples to finish with six while Bautista notched 10 points in the third period. Meanwhile, TY Tang of Harbour Centre received the Commissioner's Choice for Civic Consciousness for involvement in giving back to the community. - GMANews.TV