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BATANGAS
CITY—Hapee Toothpaste shocked Harbour Centre in Game
One, climbing back from 18 points down for a thrilling
74-73 victory at the start of the 2008 Philippine
Basketball League (PBL) Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup
finals Wednesday at the Batangas City Sports Center.
The
Complete Protectors showed patience and character in the
closing minutes in turning back Batang Pier, who were 86
seconds away from a win but crumbled in the end to give
Hapee the opening victory in the best-of-five series.
“Give
credit to the players. They were patient despite being
down early. Walang nag-panic sa kanila,”
said winning coach Louie Alas, who drew 18 points and 10
rebounds from Larry Rodriguez.
“This is
a good win pero balewala ito kung hindi namin
makukuha ang championship,” Alas added.
Richard
Alonzo gave Harbour a 73-68 lead on a putback with 1:26
left before Hapee did the impossible, to the delight of
the fans who filled the venue.
Mark
Borboran hit two free throws that sliced the lead to
70-73. Eugene Tan, the ageless veteran of the Complete
Protectors, deflected the pass of Jason Castro that led
to a lay-up by Gabe Norwood and put Hapee within a
single point, 72-73, with 39.6 ticks left.
Batang
Pier’s Jonathan Fernandez muffed his lay-up and Norwood
found Borboron inside the lane for the undergoal stab
that gave Hapee the lead, 74-73, with 21.5 seconds
remaining.
TY Tang
was called for an offensive foul off Alfie Grijaldo in
the ensuing play but Hapee failed to capitalize and
turned the ball over on an inbounds error, 6.8 ticks
left.
Again,
Batang Pier failed to rise to the occasion as Castro’s
game-winning attempt was swatted by Grijaldo.
Norwood is top freshman
AS
expected, Norwood, the former George Mason University
standout, was the hands-down choice for the “Fantastic
Freshman” award which was handed by PBL commissioner
Chino Trinidad during the halftime break.
The
23-year-old
Norwood
was fifth in scoring (13.1 points per game), second in
rebounds (7.4), fourth in assists (4.9) and first in
steals (2.1) in the tournament to become the unanimous
choice for the honors that is equivalent to the Rookie
of the Year award.
He also
bagged another citation, the Fan Favorite award, which
is given to a player who elicits the most vocal and
emotional response from the crowd.
Norwood’s
teammate Reed Juntilla earned the Instant Impact plum,
while the True Gentleman honor was bestowed on Harbour
Centre’s injured forward Dylan Ababou.
Meanwhile, because of the warm reception by the
Batangueños in the series opener, Trinidad announced
that if the championship series goes the full route,
Game Five will be played again here on May 31.
The
venue was inaugurated in April and could seat 5,000
people. The tickets, priced at P20 each, were sold out
and close to a thousand were squeezed in just to allow
them to watch the game.
Wednesday’s game marked the 25th anniversary of the
league, which was formerly known as Philippine Amateur
Basketball League (PABL) with Joe Favia as the founding
commissioner.
The
first PABL game was held on May 21, 1983, at the Rizal
Memorial Coliseum. It was between Philippine Army and
Masagana 99. |
