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TANAUAN CITY—Jason
Castro won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award by a
hair over Gabe Norwood.
And
Castro helped Harbour Centre make it two-in-a-row in
Game Three of the 2008 Philippine Basketball League (PBL)
Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup finals, but this time, he
outclassed
Norwood in their head-to-head duel at the President Jose P. Laurel
Gymnasium here.
The
newly christened MVP towed Batang Pier to a 90-78 win
over Hapee Toothpaste for a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five
championship series. The Batang Pier thus moved closer
to an unprecedented fifth-straight PBL crown.
Castro
finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, seven assists
and two steals, a game-long brilliance that spelled the
big difference for Harbour Centre in clinching the
pivotal game of the series.
The
Batang Pier could wrap it all up in Game Four tomorrow
at 4 p.m. at the Batangas City Sports Center in Batangas
City.
From a
70-all standoff, Batang Pier unleashed a crucial 10-3
run capped by Beau Belga’s three-point play off Norwood
for an 80-73 lead. They were never threatened after
that.
“Jason
showed why he deserves to be MVP,” said Harbour Centre
head coach Jorge Gallent. “We’ll try to finish the
series on Wednesday.”
Jonathan
Fernandez was the only other Harbour Centre player who
finished in double figures with 13, but the supporting
cast was solid for Gallent. In the Hapee camp, however,
coach Louie Alas could hardly smile as he drew erratic
performances from his second unit.
Norwood
was never a factor in the game, hitting a quiet 14
points on a three-of-10 shooting from the floor.
Reed
Juntilla paced the Complete Protectors with 19 points,
while Larry Rodriguez chipped in 17 and 11 rebounds but
was silenced in the closing minutes because of his
unsportsmanlike foul on Belga that sidelined him for two
minutes.
Hapee
came back in the game with a strong third quarter,
courtesy of Rodriguez’s inside incursions, to turn a
42-33 deficit into a 56-52 lead with 3:05 left in that
stage.
Harbour
Centre, however, responded with a 10-6 exchange to tie
the game at 62 before Juntilla hit a difficult pull-up
jumper to give the Complete Protectors a slim 64-62 edge
entering the final canto.
Castro
already had 17 points in the first half, including a
25-foot three-pointer from the top of the key to end the
second quarter and help Batang Pier take a 42-33 lead
going to the break. |
