Batang Pier battle FiberXers with eyes still on rising Tolentino
Arvin Tolentino is playing the finest basketball of his young PBA career, and, naturally, he would want those memorable moments to translate into victories for NorthPort.
Against a Converge team which he turned into a backdrop for his personal highlight reel in the first round, Tolentino will get another chance at doing something special on Wednesday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Batang Pier (3-3 win-loss) and the FiberExers take the court at 5:30 p.m. and Tolentino has pretty much figured out how to help his club in its bid to reach the knockout phase of the Governors’ Cup.
“The goal in this second round is to beat those teams below us and try our best to get a win against teams higher than us in the standings,” he proudly declared shortly after notching his career-first triple-double in NorthPort’s 133-107 win over Terrafirma last Tuesday.
“If we can beat them all, why not? But if we can get two or three (wins), that will be fine [as well],” the talented forward added with a smirk.
NorthPort crushed Converge, 135–109, in their previous encounter—the same game when Tolentino scored a career-high 51 points and joined an elite club of locals who breached the half-century mark. That cast features the likes of Allan Caidic, Bong Alvarez, Rudy Distrito, Asi Taulava and more recently, Stanley Pringle.
After the FiberXers, Tolentino and the rest of coach Bonnie Tan’s crew have Meralco, Magnolia and TNT left to play Group A.
Clubs are about to jockey for playoff positioning, which will be key for their respective paths toward the title.
San Miguel Beer and NLEX, two Group B squads that will tangle in the nightcap set at 7:30 p.m., will also try to get into that playoff mix.
The Beermen (3-2) are hoping they have learned their lesson after a wobbly first round that had them winning only three of their first five games.
“It was kind of shaky, but you have to [consider] that our losses came from [games where we were] two or one possessions away [from winning],” said head coach Jorge Gallent. “We just have to learn from the small things—defending better and following what we have to do.” INQ
