Port Masters live for death match

Harbour Centre gave Toyota Otis a dose of its own medicine as it shackled its rival all game to fashion out a 73-55 rout yesterday and force a deciding Game 5 in the PBL Unity Cup Finals at the Olivarez gym.

The Port Masters came through with practically the same defensive effort the Sparks have been dishing out in the series, putting the clamps on key Toyota gunners early on before holding on to victory that sent the best-of-five series into a winner-take-all match.

The sudden death is set at 3 p.m. tomorrow.

"Our defense was great today and that was the key," said Harbour Centre coach Jorge Gallent, now in the threshold of steering the Mikee Romero-owned franchise to its first-ever title since joining the league last year.

Chiko Lanete made up for a scoreless outing in Harbour Centre’s 80-83 setback in Game 3 Tuesday as he fired 20 points, including nine in the fourth quarter when the Port Masters doused cold water on a late rally by the Sparks.

"He really stepped up today, I hope he’ll play the same in Game 5," said Gallent of the former Lyceum College standout.

Lanete’s heroics also more than made up for Joseph Yeo’s miserable outing. Yeo muffed all his eight attempts from the field and made six errors to finish with just a point in 28 minutes of action.

The former La Salle standout, however, atoned for his awful shooting by dishing out assists and coming up with a couple of steals and rebounds.

"He (Yeo) told me as early as the second quarter that he’s going to pass the ball because he’s unlucky," Gallent said.

Conference MVP Joe Devance came up with a 16-point, 13-rebound performance but Toyota Otis sorely missed the offensive fire and defensive punch from Aaron Aban, who was sidelined by a right wrist injury.

With Yeo struggling, Lanete and Chad Alonzo stepped up and combined for 17 points to give the Port Masters a comfortable 39-22 halftime lead.

During that stretch, the Port Masters forced the Sparks to miss 22 shots in 32 attempts and turn the ball over 12 times.

Jec Chia, who struggled in the first three games, came alive this time, firing six points and plucking four rebounds to help Harbour seize control early.