TANAUAN CITY — Jason Castro celebrated his third straight Most Valuable Player title by pouring 28 points to power Harbour Centre to 90-78 win over Hapee Toothpaste and into the threshold of winning the 2008 PBL Lipovitan Amino Sports Cup yesterday at the Pres. Jose P. Laurel gym here.

Castro did most of the damage in the first three quarters before letting teammates Beau Belga and Jonathan Fernandez, who combined for 15 points, to complete the job that gave the Batang Pier a commanding 2-1 lead in their best-of-five title series.

“Jason just proved why he deserved to become the league’s MVP. His energy and brilliance rubbed off on his teammates,” said Harbour coach Jorge Gallent. “But again, I like to commend my boys, the whole team for playing aggressive on both ends of the court.”

The Batang Pier go for the title — a record fifth straight championship — tomorrow when the league visits Batangas City for Game 4.

“If we will play like that again, we’re gonna win the championship in Game 4,” said Gallent.

So exhausted was Castro with his all-round performance in the first three quarters he was fielded back into the game with 6:52 left and Harbour leading 68-64 following a triple by TY Tang.

Belga shattered a 72-72 count with two free throws on a foul by Larry Rodriguez before Fernandez buried a triple as the Batang Pier finally broke away from a tight contest.

Castro, playing his best game in the tournament, pulled off his second steal and split his charities.

Back-to-back baskets by Belga, who finished with nine points, sealed the win for Harbour, 82-74, with barely 96 ticks left.

Heavy rains drenched the Calabarzon area for more than two hours, but the Batang Pier started hot with Castro making three of his four attempts from the rainbow territory.

Harbour went on to post an impressive 56 precent shooting clip (9-of-16) at the end of the half.

After two quarters, Casto had 17 points, including 6-of-6 from the stripes. He also had five assists and three rebounds.

Jeff Chan and Edwin Asoro also made their presence felt early by contributing two triples each while Sol Mercado and Jonathan Fernandez added one apiece.

The scores:

HARBOUR CENTRE 90 — Castro 28, Fernandez 13, Asoro 9, Chan 8, Belga 8, Tang 8, Alonzo 7, Mercado 6, Vergara 2, Gaco 1, Gamboa 0, Bautista 0, Taylor 0.

HAPEE TOOTHPASTE 78 — Juntilla 19, Rodriguez 17, Norwood 14, Borboran 7, Mercado 6, Grijaldo 6, Tan 5, Saguindel 4, Espiritu 0, Quinday 0, Daa 0, Hugnatan 0.

Quarters: 18-12, 42-33, 62-64, 90-78.