Tolentino finds his groove as Batang Pier avoid sweep

MANILA, Philippines — Struggling in the first three games of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals, Arvin Tolentino finally regained his touch for the NorthPort Batang Pier. 

In their 108-103 Game 4 win over Ginebra on Wednesday evening, Tolentino, the frontrunner in the PBA Best Player of the Conference award, had a near triple-double.

He finished with 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to go with four steals and a block in 42 minutes of play to help his team avoid the sweep. 

This is his best outing thus far in the semis, as the Gin Kings’ defense focused on Tolentino in their previous three games, wherein the first-seeded Batang Pier lost by a margin of 20.7 points per game. 

Before Wednesday’s game, he was averaging 11.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per contest. 

After the game, the sweet-shooting forward said that he just “really had to” produce the way he did to keep the Batang Pier alive. 

“Well, I just really had to. Kasi kung hindi, wala na, out na kami,” he told reporters. 

“[We had to] find a way. And we, as a team, found the way today. But, again, it's just one win.

It's a best-of-seven series. So, we gotta win three more. And hopefully, magtuloy-tuloy yung magandang laro namin,” he added. 

On Wednesday, all NorthPort starters finished in double digits. 

Import Kadeem Jack, as usual, powered the squad with 39 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. William Navarro added 16 markers, while Joshua Munzon and Paolo Taha chipped in 14 and 11, respectively. 

Tolentino scored 14 of his total output in the third quarter, when they started to pull away, turning a 54-50 halftime lead to an 84-74 advantage heading into the final quarter. 

The former Far Eastern University Tamaraw and Ateneo Blue Eagle said that he tried to look past and move on from his cold start in the series, but the thought is there.

“I guess siguro may parang [thought na] sana maganda yung nilaro ko from the start. But I tried to iwasan yung ganun na to look back nung past three games. But yeah, of course, may isip mo rin na sana maganda yung nilaro namin since game one,” he said. 

“At least siguro medyo tumaas yung chance namin or at least baka nakakuha pa kami ng extra na panalo. But that's… in a series like this, yung past is wala na. So important thing is to look forward na lang.” 

And now, their win gave them a huge confidence boost moving forward.

“Kung ikukumpara mo, alam mo yung parang nasa ilalim ka ng tubig tapos hindi ka makahinga? So yun, naka-angat kami, so nakakahinga na ulit. Yung kumpiyansa nakabalik na ulit. Yung belief namin sa sarili, sa team, balik na ulit. And yeah, three more, I guess.”

For his part, NorthPort assistant coach Rensy Bajar stressed that the team showcased energy and aggressiveness on defense, which spelled the difference this time around.

“Ngayon, wala kaming masabi doon sa pinakita ng mga players, especially on the first part of the game na talagang undoing yung pressure defense from the backcourt until dun sa frontcourt ng Ginebra,” said Bajar. 

“Nasunod namin yung gusto namin magawa. Nasunod ng mga players. The same time, sinunod ng mga players na gawin. So, yun yung pinaka-importante dun na how they play as a team, especially on defense.” 

Game 5 is on Friday, 7:30 p.m., at the Big Dome.