
Batang Pier back in the hunt

KADEEM Jack’s late-game heroics lifted the NorthPort Batang Pier to a heart-stopping 105-104 victory over San Miguel Beer and a share of second place in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Jack finished with a game-high 38 points on 15-of-23 shooting from the floor, seven rebounds and four steals in almost 44 minutes of action as the Bonnie Tan-mentored Batang Pier moved in good position to nail a twice-to-beat incentive.
At 8-3, NothPort is now tied tied with Converge FiberXers for second place behind only TNT Tropang Giga.
With the tiebreaker advantage through the winner-over-the-other rule, the Batang Pier hold significant control over their chances for a Top 2 finish, which grants a one-win advantage in the quarterfinals.
Arvin Tolentino added 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Batang Pier, who avoided a 24-poitn collapse to snap their two-game losing skid.
Will Navarro contributed 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting, four assists, three rebounds and two blocks, while Joshua Munzon chipped in with 12 points and five assists.
June Mar Fajardo carried the fight for San Miguel with 24 points on 10-of-16 from the floor, and 15 rebounds in 41 minutes of play for coach Leo Austria.
CJ Perez added 21 points, five rebounds and four assists while Don Trollano had 16 points, six rebounds and three rebounds, for San Miguel, which dropped to 4-6 in a tie tie with Magnolia and NLEX.
Mo Tautuaa and Juami Tiongson chipped in 14 and 10 points, respectively.
But San Miguel import Malik Pope was held to only four points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field and 0-of-3 from beyond the arc.
The Batang Pier actually squandered a massive 24-point lead in the third quarter, but Jack stepped up in the clutch to seal the win.
With 1:48 remaining, Jack nailed a short fallaway jumper to break a 101-all tie.
And after Perez converted two consecutive free throws to give the Beermen a 104-103 lead, Jack responded with a turnaround short-range basket against the defense of Tautuaa with 16.6 seconds left.
Tiongson had an opportunity to regain the lead for the Beermen, but his floater attempt missed as the shot clock expired
Tolentino missed both free throws, forcing Tautuaa to attempt a desperation shot from long range, which fell well short
Tan and the Batang Pier will now enjoy a three-day break before aiming for a 9-3 finish against the Blackwater Bossing on Saturday at the same venue.
Meanwhile, Converge will look to achieve the same record a day earlier in a matchup against San Miguel Beer.
San Miguel faces Converge and TNT in its final assignments, while Magnolia wraps up its elimination round against Eastern and Meralco.
Meanwhile, NLEX will close out with games against Rain or Shine and Eastern.
The scores:
NorthPort (105) — Jack 38, Tolentino 22, Navarro 17, Munzon 12, Nelle 6, Bulanadi 6, Flores 2, Tratter 2, Yu 0, Miranda 0, Cantupay 0.
San Miguel (104) — Fajardo 24, Perez 21, Trollano 16, Tautuaa 14, Tiongson 10, Cruz 6, Pope 4, Lassiter 3, Cahilig 3, Rosales 3, Ross 0.
Quarterscores: 36-22, 69-52, 91-74, 105-104.
Games Friday
(Ynares Center-Antipolo)
5 p.m.– Phoenix vs. TNT
7:30 p.m.– San Miguel vs. Converge