Harbour Centre overcame a sluggish start in a second quarter siege as it smashed Pharex, 99-77, yesterday to stretch its unbeaten run to seven in the PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup at The Arena in San Juan City.
Less than a week after blasting the Gabe Norwood-led Hapee Complete Protectors, 88-69, the Batang Pier unloaded a 23-5 blast late in the second quarter to turn a 16-19 first quarter deficit to a 47-32 advantage at the break.
From then on, the Mikee Romero-owned franchise, seeking a fifth straight crown, was on a cruise as it dealt the Medics their third defeat against five wins, falling two and a half games behind the four-peat champions.
In the second game, RJ Jazul blasted his way to 19 points as he powered Toyota Otis to an 85-74 triumph over Noosa Shoes.
It was Jazul’s first game since being recalled by Letran College at the start of the conference and he delivered at once to send the Sparks to their second straight victory after dropping their first five outings.
The win spoiled the 22-point effort by Dom Javier in a loss that sent the Dioceldo Sy-owned Shoe Stars to their fourth setback against three victories.
Relievers Gilbert Malabanan and Jeff Chan did much of the damage as the two fired 14 and 13 points, respectively, while the duo of Beau Belga and former two-time PBL MVP Jason Castro drilled in 12 and 10 points, respectively, in powering Harbour Centre to its seventh straight win.
“My second unit got the job done for us in this game,”said Harbour coach Jorge Gallent. “But generally, it was our discipline in the second quarter that set the tone for this win.”
Former pro Ronnie Bughao paced Pharex with 14 points while Don Villamin and Ronnie Matias added 13 apiece.
The Medics, in fact, appeared to be the more aggressive team as they controlled the tempo early in the game to lead by three points after the opening period.