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By Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter
Hapee Toothpaste inched closer to the
championship title after bagging their 12 straight victory against
three-time champion Harbour Centre, 72-69, in Game 1 win of the
best-of-three finals series of the 2008 PBL V-GO Extreme Energy
Drink Cup Thursday at Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.
The Complete Protectors were nursing a
precarious 70-69 lead with 17 seconds left, but Harbour’s Solomon
Mercado drove strong to the basket and fished a foul on Larry
Rodriguez. Prized recruit Mercado, however, missed his two free
throws.
Hapee’s leading scorer Reed Juntilla then
secured the game's final rebound and nailed his charities off an
intentional foul from TY Tang as the time expired for the final
count and Hapee's 12th straight victory in as many games dating back
to the classification round.
Mark Borboran split his charities with 1:06
seconds remaining to give Hapee a 70-66 cushion. But Harbour’s
Benedict Fernandez dropped a three-point bomb off the bench to make
it a one-point affair. Juntilla, however, turned the ball over the
baseline that gave the perennial champions one last chance to steal
the win to no avail.
“Nanalo na naman kami [We won again],” Hapee
coach Jun Noel said. “I just told them to play honest defense, no
foul, but it just so happen that Fernandez got away.”
“If the free throws went in, so be it, we’ll
just design our one last play because there’s still two seconds
left.” Noel added.
Uncharacteristically, Harbour failed to make any
of its six free throw attempts.
Juntilla spearheaded Hapee’s balanced attack
anew with 21 points and six boards, while teammate Gabe Norwood
registered another all-around game of 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 7
assists.
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