Northport Batang Pier Joshua Munzon during a PBA Commissioner’s Cup game against Blackwater Bossing. –PBA IMAGES
NorthPort trampled Blackwater, 120-93, on Saturday night to end its elimination round on a good note and inch closer to a twice-to-beat protection in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
The Batang Pier, buoyed by yet another strong performance by its two-way star Joshua Munzon, reclaimed the No. 1 spot and finished with a 9-3 win-loss mark. They will now just need Meralco, Hong Kong, and TNT to lose one of their final two games to formally capture a quarterfinal bonus.
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“We just want to come out and finish strong. We’ve been working hard the whole year. We didn’t want a letdown coming into today and into the playoffs. So we just to bring the intensity on defense and go out and finished strong and we did that. We’re happy with the results,” said Munzon, who finished with 21 points, five assists, and a steal in the affair at Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Northport Batang Pier import Kadeem Jack during a PBA Commissioner’s Cup game against Blackwater Bossing. –PBA IMAGES
Kadeem Jack had 30 points, while Arvin Tolentino turned in a triple-double of 14 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in the triumph where the Batang Pier scored 30 points each quarter and padded leads by as many as 36 points.
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Also coming through for NorthPort were Allyn Bulanadi and Paolo Taha, who both chipped in 12 points in the contest.
Blackwater, which has been eliminated from playoff contention the night before following San Miguel’s win over Converge, drew 15 points from Justin Chuia and 11 more from RK Ilagan.
Both import George King and high-scoring guard Sedrick Barefield sat out the loss which dealt the Bossing a 3-9 record to end their campaign.
The Scores:
NORTHPORT 120 – Jack 30, Munzon 21, Tolentino 14, Bulanadi 12, Taha 12, Nelle 7, Navarro 7, Cuntapay 5, Flores 4, Yu 2, Onwubere 2, Tratter 2, Miranda 2.
BLACKWATER 93– Chua 15, Ilagan11, Tungcab 9, Escoto 9, Jopia 8, Corteza 8, Kwekuteye 7, Ayonayon 6, Guinto 5, David 5, Mitchell 4, Casio 3, Ponferrada 3, Suerte 0.
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Quarterscores: 30-26, 60-43, 90-63, 120-93.
