Blu, Hapee bounce back, keep hopes alive

CEBU CITY – Blu Detergent and Hapee Toothpaste-Cebu bounced back from their opening day loss as they thwarted separate rivals yesterday to keep hopes alive for the best-of-three championship series of the Cebu Basketball Federation-Philippine Basketball League Partnership Cup at the Cebu Coliseum here.

Blu Detergent stood tough down the final two minutes to ward off Montana Pawnshop, 67-66, while Hapee Toothpaste unveiled a mammoth 22-2 fourth quarter blast to turn back Granny Goose Tortillos, 97-77.

Marion Legaspi, who topped with 27 points, keyed the victory, showing never-seen-before intensity of driving to the hoops as he drilled in three straight baskets that pulled the Detergent Kings up at 67-62, with 2:50 remaining.

Then the Detergent Kings stepped up on defense that prevented the Jewelers’ guards from executing their play in the next two minutes and allowed only Gary David to score on a lay-up, 64-67, with 33.5 seconds left.

Blu held on to the ball down to the last 1.8 seconds before Montana’s Marion Kalaw scored the last two points..

"Medyo pagod yung mga bata noong opening day dahil kararating pa lang, laro agad," said new Blu Detergent head coach Leo Isaac. "I’m glad na nakabawi kami."

James Laygo starred for Hapee Toothpaste with 16 points, including four straight baskets that sparked a 22-2 blast to reverse a 66-69 deficit for an 88-71 margin that ensured the Teeth Sparklers’ win.

With the triumph of both the Detergent Kings and the Teeth Sparklers, all four teams now hold similar 1-1 cards. The winners of today’s matches will arrange a best-of-three championship series while the losers will duel in a sudden-death match for third place.

Montana clashes with Granny Goose at 5:30 p.m. while Blu collides with Hapee-Cebu in the main encounter at 7:30 p.m.