Hapee-ness is a warm Cup

Hapee Toothpaste seemed destined to win the Sunkist-PBL 2003 Unity Cup after going through a wringer of a championship series with an equally-talented Viva Mineral Water — a gut-wrenching playoff that was decided in the last 69 seconds of Game Five.

It was the toughest championship series in years and Hapee coach Junel Baculi felt there was some divine intervention when it was decided in the final 1.9 seconds.

"That makes this championship much different from the previous ones. The pressure was tremendous, that when everything was clear in the final 1.9 seconds, talagang nagtatalon na kami ni Boss (team manager) Bernard Yang," Baculi said.

The win ended the seven-year drought for Lamoiyan Corporation since Baculi steered the team to its first crown in the 1996 PBL Reinforced Conference.

There seemed to be some grand design for the team to claim this one. The coach had wanted to take a break and a holiday in the United States following his stint with the Olongapo Volunteers in the MBA. There were coaching offers received and gracefully turned down.

"Maraming tumatawag offering me a coaching job. But when I got this call from (Lamoiyan owner) Mr. Cecilio Pedro, parang me nagtulak sa akin to get this job. I felt it was more of a mission kaya di na naman natuloy ang bakasyon ko," he added.

"I do believe it was God’s hands at work. We were looking for a new coach at timing naman that Baculi was free. Then everything fell into place," said Pedro.

Allan Salangsang proved himself more deserving when he bagged the Finals MVP, which may serve a fitting memory for his exceptional stint in the PBL since two PBA teams — Purefoods and San Miguel — are reportedly eyeing his services.

Meanwhile, the game will be aired again beginning at 9 tonight over NBN 4.