BARANGAY Ginebra kept its winning streak and NorthPort ended a long losing slide were the highlights of Saturday’s PBA Philippine Cup games in two different venues.
Over at Cagayan de Oro, the Kings used a third-quarter tear to pull away from the Converge FiberXers, 105-93, before a sizeable crowd at the Aquilino Pimentel Jr. International Convention Center.
It was the fourth straight victory for coach Tim Cone and his team to raise their record to 7-3 and on the verge of clinching the second twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs.
Converge failed to score a fitting follow-up to its breakthrough win against Meralco last week and fell to 1-9 overall.
Meanwhile, at the Caloocan Sports Complex, the Batang Pier leaned on the endgame heroics of Arvin Tolentino to survive a fighting Blackwater side, 115-113.
The thrilling victory in which Northport lost a 19-point lead and battled its way back from six points down with less than two minutes left, arrested the five-game losing skid of the Batang Pier to end their campaign at 5-6.
The loss was a heartbreaker for the Bossing as it hurt its chances of making it to the playoffs, falling to a 3-6 record.
Here are the takeaways from Saturday’s games at Cagayan De Oro and Caloocan City.
1. No doubt Arvin Tolentino was the man of the hour for Northport against Blackwater, but rookie Damie Cuntamay also proved to be a revelation. Inserted in the starting unit since JM Calma went down with an ACL injury, the big man out of San Beda played his best game yet in the PBA with 15 points, three rebounds, and two assists including a 5-of-8 stint from three-point land. It’s the 6-foot-5 bruiser’s way of paying the trust given him by Northport management which picked him up in the rookie free agent list after not being signed by Terrafirma which selected him in the fifth round of last year’s draft.
PHOTO: PBA IMAGES
2. Blackwater unleashed a Triple Tower threat of Troy Rosario, Justin Chua, and rookie Christian David against Northport and what an imposing frontcourt partners they made. Rosario and David both scored season highs of 33 and 26 points, respectively, while grabbing 15 and nine rebounds. Chua added 11 and seven after being inserted late in the game by coach Jeff Cariaso to match up with Northport bigs Arvin Tolentino, William Navarro, Zid Lucero, and later Joshua Munzon. All three combined for 30 of the Bossing’s 32 points in the fourth quarter. Too bad, Blackwater lost this one. A fourth big man was still waiting on the bench for the Bossing in rookie Clifford Jopia.
PHOTO: PBA IMAGES
3. Christian Standhardinger is making a case as the best player of Barangay Ginebra this conference after coming an assist short of a triple-double in the team’s win over Converge. The Fil-German center scored a season-high 33 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. His total output matched his highest score in a Ginebra uniform which he did during Game 1 of the 2023 Governors’ Cup semifinals against San Miguel and equaled his fourth career-best. He now raised his conference average to 20.0 points and 11.3 rebounds.
PHOTO: PBA IMAGES
4. Converge sophomore Alec Stockton moved up second in scoring this conference after finishing with 32 points in the loss against Ginebra. The former Far Eastern University guard also hit four three-pointers and had six rebounds and six assists. He now averages 22.9 points per game to rank no. 2 behind Northport’s explosive guard Robert Bolick (26.4 points).
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
