IT was NorthPort’s turn to deal a sound beating yesterday.
Clicking on all cylinders for majority of the game, the Batang Pier fashioned a wire-to-wire 115-79 victory over hapless Phoenix Super LPG in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
Making up for lost time caused by a partial ACL tear that kept him out of last year’s Philippine Cup bubble, Robert Bolick notched 20 points and 11 assists as NorthPort bounced back big from a 63-85 loss to Meralco on opening day last Friday.
Bolickand coach Pido Jarencio said it was their defense and offense coming together that netted them the wire-to-wire victory.
“Sabi nga ni coach Pido, hindi namin kaya kung offense-to-offense lang,” said Bolick, who added seven rebounds while shooting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
“So last couple of practices namin focus namin depensa lang talaga. ‘Yung offense nga namin hindi na namin na-trabaho. Talagang defense focus namin. Nakita naman ngayon.”
“Masyadong disappointment ‘yung first game namin. Lowest scoring and at the same time (shooting) percentage yata,” said Jarencio.“Ginawa na lang namin, we fixed one thing, defense. Actually, nagkaroon kami ng bull session. Nag-usap kami, sa depensa. Nag-concentrate kami talaga on defense. If we make stops then we can get our offense flowing.”
The two ends did meet for the Batang Pier, resulting in the largest winning margin in franchise history with rookie Troy Rike, the No. 11 pick overall in last March’s draft, highlighting his own 20-point game with four straight triples that powered the team to as much as a 99-65 lead.
Even Sydney Onwubere, Paolo Taha and Jamie Malonzo also made their mark and made up for the absence of Greg Slaughter and Sean Anthony.
Like in the Meralco game, Slaughter again begged off from seeing action while continuing his assimilation in the team with some more practice time while Anthony nursed a sore left ankle. Both are expected to suit up in the game against San Miguel Beer on Sunday.
The loss was Phoenix’s second in as many outings after its 70-83 defeat to Magnolia last Saturday.
Vic Manuel scored a game-high 26 points, but the likes of Matthew Wright, Jason Perkins and Justin Chua came up with sub-par performances for Phoenix.
