Handicapped Harbour dumps Toyota, fortifies PBL top spot

MANILA, Philippines - No Mark Barroca to quarterback the squad? No problem. There's Benedict Fernandez for Harbour Centre. Fernandez, a Far Eastern University combo guard in a wingman's body, scattered 20 points and anchored the Harbour Centre backcourt's tenacious defense on prolific guard JV Casio, as the Batang Pier hammered out a convincing 86-78 triumph over the Toyota-Otis Sparks in the Philippine Basketball League PG Flex Linoleum Cup on Tuesday at the Letran Gym in Intramuros. Casio was grounded all game long. With Fernandez, Reed Juntilla and Boyet Bautista alternately keeping him off track, Casio was held to only four points on two-for-13 shooting from the field. A non-factor in Harbour Centre's stunning loss to Pharex last Thursday, Fernandez bounced back strong with a stirring performance that rubbed off on the rest of his teammates. Rico Maierhofer had another double-double performance with 15 points and 12 rebounds, Juntilla contributed 12 pounts and PJ Barua and Jerwin Gaco added 10 apiece and the Batang Pier moved on the threshold of securing an automatic semis berth by improving to 8-1. Barroca, Harbour Centre's starting playmaker, is on the RP team playing in a tune-up tournament in China. "It's a good win before the Christmas break. Everybody played well, especially our big guys Jerwin (Gaco) and Rico (Maierhofer)," said Harbour coach Jorge Gallent. Harbour only needs to win one of its remaining three games to book a seat in the semis. The Sparks fell to 3-5 and found themselves hard-pressed to earn a semis berth. They have to win their last four games to have a chance at advancing outright to the final four. "We challenged our frontline to beat Toyota Otis on the boards and they did just that," said Gallent. A Jonathan Aldave jumper put the Sparks ahead 25-23 early in the second period, the last time Toyota tasted the lead. From there, the Batang Pier took over. A dizzying 15-0 run sparked by Edwin Asoro's tough undergoal stab gave Harbour a sizeable 38-25 lead, one that stood for good. Toyota Otis managed to close in at 45-37, but the Batang Pier were just starting to heat up. Behind Barua and Fernandez, they padded the lead to 72-53. - GMANews.TV