NO sweep. No shutout.
Blown out in each of the first three games and facing elimination, NorthPort dug deep and foiled Barangay Ginebra's sweep bid with a 108-103 victory Wednesday in their PBA Commissioner's Cup semifinal showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Arvin Tolentino escaped from the Ginebra defensive shackles and put in a near triple double with 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to lead a big fight that kept them alive in the race-to-four-games dispute.
"I really had to (make presence felt), otherwise, we're out of it," said Tolentino, the tournament leading scorer in the elims held to an average of 11.6 in the first three games of the NorthPort-Ginebra duel.
"It's about finding a way, and we found a way as a team," said Tolentino, hailing the team's effort laced by Kadeem Jack's 39-point sizzler and solid support from William Navarro (with 16 points), Josh Munzon (14) and Paolo Taha (11).
Sponsored content:
Tapped to start at the point and playing nearly 30 minutes, Taha responded big time as he also came through with three rebounds and the same number of assists and steals against one error.
"It's just one win and we gonna need three more. Hopefully magtuloy-tuloy, like today we issuing 28 assists," said Tolentino.
"The next game to the last, we have to find a way. Three more eh mukhang imposible, pero I think walang imposible," Tolentino added.
Now at 1-3, the Batang Pier try to once again extend the series in Game 5 Friday, also at the Big Dome.
"First thing the coaching staff led by coach Bonnie Tan pointed out to the players was energy and aggressiveness on defense," assistant coach Renzy Bajar said after the life-saving win after three routs (115-93, 119-103, 127-100).
Sponsored content:
"In this game, they really took it to heart, applying pressure from Ginebra's backcourt to the frontcourt and playing how we wanted them to play, especially on defense," he added.
They got Ginebra's number in this game but had to work hard up the finish as the Kings threatened to steal the game in rallying from 11 points down to within one at 103-104.
Jack and Tolentino themselves fended off the Ginebra uprising with clutch conversions in the last 20 seconds.
Jack drilled in a turnaround shot off Troy Rosario while Tolentino canned two free throws for the final tally.
The scores:
NorthPort 108 - Jack 39, Tolentino 20, Navarro 16, Munzon 14, Taha 11, Nelle 3, Bulanadi 3, Miranda 2, Onwubere 0.
Ginebra 103 - Brownlee 18, Abarrientos 18, Rosario 17, Holt 15, Malonzo 12, Thompson 11, J.Aguilar 10, Ahanmisi 2, Gray 0, Cu 0.
Quarterscores: 21-22, 54-50, 84-74, 108-103
