NORTHPORT passed its first acid test of the PBA 49th Season Commissioner's Cup with flying colors, defeating Magnolia Chicken Timplados, 107-103, to remain undefeated on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Batang Pier stayed unscathed through three games, beating last season's conference runner-up in a thrilling game that went down to the wire. It was also NorthPort's first win over Magnolia in three years.
NorthPort turned a 78-77 deficit into a sizeable gap through a 17-3 run behind the collective effort of Kadeem Jack, Arvin Tolentino, and Joshua Munzon, but couldn't put the Hotshots away until the final second.
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Magnolia fell to 1-2 (win-loss) after suffering back-to-back defeats despite a late charge from 13 points down at the five-minute mark of the game and nearly seizing the upperhand in one helter-skelter play.
Sidney Onwubere, however, came away with a huge block on Ricardo Ratliffe's potential go-ahead basket, and Munzon drained a four with 49.6 seconds left to break the Magnolia momentum and give NorthPort a 100-95 lead.
Jack had 30 points and 11 rebounds, while Tolentino added 27 points. Munzon had 25 points and five steals.
Jerom Lastimosa had 27 points for Magnolia.
The scores:
NorthPort 107 – Jack 30, Tolentino 27, Munzon 25, Yu 9, Nelle 5, Navarro 4, Flores 4, Onwubere 3, Bulanadi 0, Tratter 0, Miranda 0, Cuntapay 0.
Magnolia 103 – Lastimosa 27, Dela Rosa 16, Barroca 14, Dionisio 13, Ratliffe 10, Eriobu 7, Sangalang 6, Lucero 4, Ahanmisi 3, Abueva 3, Mendoza 0.
Quarters: 28-31; 59-52; 77-78; 107-103.
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