Desperate to pick up a win, NorthPort banked on its franchise player in Robert Bolick to pull off a convincing 115-100 victory over Terrafirma in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at the Philsports Arena.
Bolick played like an import, finishing with 26 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Batang Pier, who finally snapped their six-game losing skid in the season-ending conference.
The Dyip, for their part, suffered their fourth straight loss to stay at the 10th spot with a 2-6 win-loss card.
With Bolick taking charge, the rest of the Batang Pier were inspired to finally get out of the slump.
Import Kevin Murphy flirted with a double-double performance of 28 points and nine boards while JM Calma also came out with a breakout performance, ending up a rebound away from a double-double showing with 18 markers on top of nine boards.
Joshua Munzon also had his best game in NorthPort uniform, tallying 17 points as the Batang Pier hit a whopping 71 inside points compared to only 36 of their rivals.
“We tried to strengthen our mental approach in notching our first win so as not to get pressured,” said NorthPort coach Bonnie Tan, who just picked up his first victory as a head coach in the PBA.
Tan took over as head coach of the squad, replacing Pido Jarencio, who was appointed as team manager.
Arwind Santos played his first game back after recovering from a knee injury.
The 41-year-old, former league Most Valuable Player, had to be gradually inserted into the game and only saw action for seven minutes, missing three shots from the field.
Although he went scoreless, Tan believes the presence of Santos alone had somehow raised the level of confidence of the rest of the team.
“It’s his first game back and then our import is getting better, while Bolick just returned recently, but we’re playing better as a team every game. It’s only a matter of time before we can get our acts together,” Tan added.
But NorthPort doesn’t have the luxury of time as it needs to win its remaining four games to salvage a seat in the playoffs.
Eight teams will advance to the quarterfinal round with the top four securing a twice-to-beat advantage against their quarterfinal rivals.
The Scores:
NORTHPORT 115 – Murphy 28, Bolick 26, Calma 18, Munzon 17, Tolentino 9, Taha 7, Chan 5, Zamar 4, Sumang 1, Caperal 0, Balagasay 0, Santos 0, Vigil 0, Ayaay 0, Salado 0
TERRAFIRMA 100 – J. Williams 25, Tiongson 18, Calvo 12, Camson 12, Gabayni 9, Cahilig 7, Ramos 7, Mina 3, Daquioag 3, Gomez de Liano 2, Alolino 2, Cabagnot 0, Grospe 0
QUARTERS: 33-28, 61-47, 88-80, 115-100lm
