Waking up from stupor

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NORTHPORT finally succeeded where it failed four nights back.

The Batang Pier rose from the dead and stunned the Converge FiberXers last Sunday night in the PBA Philippine Cup, with coach Bonnie Tan giving plaudits to his charges’ no-quit mindset and defense.

“The players just did not give up kahit na medyo malaki iyong lamang ng Converge,” Tan said after their 112-104 overtime victory. “Collective effort lang lalo na sa team defense, nag-step up kami sa defense namin.

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“We noticed that Converge doesn’t have a natural guard, so we took advantage of the backcourt pressure,” he added.

Tan’s squad stared at a 50-68 hole in the third quarter–his players’ faces looking dejected in a duel they seemingly lost–a deja vu of sorts after they dropped a 100-107 loss to the NLEX Road Warriors also in OT last Friday.

But the Batang Pier’s choking full-court pressure allowed them to essay the gripping triumph.

NorthPort simply learned its lessons the last time out and took them to heart.

“We have a young team, and we don’t have the identity to finish the game with the character na hinahanap natin. Siguro, kumbaga, we’re looking for the perfect endgame players,” Tan said.

“Last time when we played in overtime, we only scored two points and we lost that game.

We made sure na hindi na mangyayari iyong nangyari sa last game namin.”

Batang Pier star Arvin Tolentino proved to be the biggest bane for Converge with a game-high 31 points, on top of eight rebounds, and 11 assists, while Joshua Munzon backed him up with 17 markers, six boards, and a career-high six steals.

Will Navarro and rookie Cade Flores also added 16 and 14 points, respectively, as NorthPort improved to 1-1 early in the season-ending tilt.

The FiberXers slipped to 0-2 after yielding to the Terrafirma Dyip 99-107 last Friday.

“It was defense–that was the biggest thing, trying to spark us and give us some energy.

We were down most of the game and then I just wanted to at least leave it all out on the defensive end,” Munzon said.

“I think a lot of us showed that–me, Fran (Yu), Cade, and Arvin. We just sparked our defense and to me ultimately that carried us back in the game.”

Tan also praised Tolentino, who is thriving as the new leader of the Batang Pier.

“Last conference, I think we only started Arvin for one game with the rest of the bench but now, I’m giving him the responsibility to be our leader,” he said. “This is his time now and we’re giving him all the opportunities to step up and be our leader in this team.”

Alec Stockton carried the fight for Converge with 27 points, three caroms, and two dimes, while Justin Arana had 25 and 13.

Bryan Santos also got 11 markers for the FiberXers.

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Tan gave Munzon a tap on his back when the final buzzer sounded and was heard saying, “This is just the start of our conference. Way to go!”

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