Never say die

Harbour Centre Portmasters team owner Mikee Romero has all the reasons to be very happy nowadays. To begin with, his Portmasters captured last Saturday the Silver Cup of the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) at the expense of Hapee-PCU. The Portmasters swept their best-of-five series with Hapee-PCU after narrowly beating Toyota Otis-Letran in the semifinals, 3-2.

The Portmasters had to go through the proverbial needle’s eye after it fell behind Toyoto Otis, 1-2, in the semis. At the start of game four, the deciding game for Toyota, Romero had the gnawing feeling that his boys would not make it. But, because of their never-say-die spirit, the Portsmasters extended the series to eventually earn the right to meet Hapee-PCU in the best-of-five finals.

The Silver Cup is the Portmasters second successive PBL title after winning the Unity Cup last year. Harbour Centre joined the PBL in 2005. It has been in the league for four seasons and the Portmasters’ finest performance before bagging the Unity Cup was a slot in the semis.

The Portmasters captured their latest title in spite of the fact that coach Jorge Gallent and consultant Junel Baculi had to work with a depleted line up minus De La Salle Green Archer Joseph Yeo and Ateneo Blue Eagle LA Tenorio who had moved up to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Taking over from Yeo and Tenorio were Chico Lanete, 6-0 point guard from the University of Visayas, who was named finals Most Valuable Player. The surprise packages, however, of the Portmasters were hitherto unheralded players from the National University (NU), Jonathan Fernandez and Edwin Asoro.

The two, who were fondly called by ex Harbour Centre cagers Mark Cardona and Yeo, askals (asong kalye), in reference to their being NU Bulldogs, are credited with pulling out Harbour Centre from the grave during its semifinal battle with Toyota Otis-Letran, thus allowing the Portmasters to set up their date with Hapee.

Romero says the Toyota defense was so focused on Lanete and JC Intal that they virtually ignored Fernandez and Asoro who readily took advantage of the situation and spelled the difference in the grueling series.

Fernandez’s saga has a storybook twist to it. Fernandez, who plays off guard and who scored five triples in the championship series, was removed from the line up during the eliminations to give way to another find, the Fil-Am from Hawaii, point guard Ramsey Williams. Williams too has another storybook episode but that’s going ahead of the story.

Harbour Centre team management found Fernandez too timid in the early goings of the season and removed him from the line up in place of Williams. Apparently, the rookie Fernandez was still feeling his way in the team and the league (noted for its rugged play, no doubt due to the no harm, no foul rule) and couldn’t put his act together that early in the season.

As luck would have it, Fernandez recovered his spot in the team when Jenkins Mesina (from the University of the Philippines) was sidelined by an injury.

The Harbour Centre sweep of the finals series was accomplished earlier by only two other teams in the 30-year history of the PBL: Welcoat and Dazz. That makes the Portmasters victory even sweeter, says Romero.

For Romero, the never-say-die spirit of the Portmasters reflects his own philosophy in life, especially in business. Romero says that one has to be resilient and this kind of spirit is most needed especially in the rough and tumble world of business.

Another key factor in Romero’s success is the support he gets not only from his wife, the former Sheila Bermudez, and the couple’s four kids, but also from his mother, the former Lilibeth Lagman. Mom Lilibeth and her five sisters, all alumnae of St. Theresa’s College, led the Portmasters cheering squad throughout the season.

The Lagmans who hail from Pampanga show up in full force to support Romero without fail. Lilibeth’s five sisters are: Nani Reyes, Mitzi Cabral, Vicky Bautista, Luchie Chanco and Peewee Lapid. All were present during the celebration that followed at the Kamay Kainan at the corner of Ortigas and Annapolis.

What’s in store for the Portmasters? They will most certainly defend the Unity Cup when the conference begins on March 24. Expect however some changes to make the Portmasters more competitive.

Looking back at the victory of the Portmasters there is one major lesson that one can learn from it: if anything, be it a relationship or love object, is worth having, preserving, fighting for and nurturing, never-say-die is the only appropriate battlecry. As Winston Churchill said in the shortest ever commencement speech: "Never give up!"