Northport regains upper hand

Back on familiar territory as winner, league-leader.

MANILA, Philippines — NorthPort quickly snapped back from its maiden loss of the conference by sinking guest team Hong Kong Eastern, 120-113, in their top-of-the-table clash in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the PhilSports Arena.

Arvin Tolentino and Kadeem Jack delivered a pair of 30-point games and combined for 73 to serve as propellers in the Batang Pier’s course-correction bid after Phoenix stopped their perfect 5-0 start, 115-109, last Tuesday.

“Coming from the loss to Phoenix, medyo masakit para sa amin. Top of the standings tapos talo kami sa Phoenix na no disrespect, winless (then),” said Tolentino, who fired 35 markers on an efficient 10-of-16 field goal and grabbed six rebounds in an error-free 41-minute stint.

“Ang positive thing na nangyari doon is bumalik ang gutom namin and nag-enjoy kami playing against Eastern. Isa sa pinakamalakas na team ang Eastern, tinalo namin and coming off a loss pa,” he added.

Kadeem Jack punched in a game-high 38 with nine boards as he got the last laugh against Eastern counterpart Chris McLaughlin, who had 26-19 in a losing cause.

Joshua Munzon shot 15 to complement the 1-2 punch of solo leader NorthPort (6-1).

NorthPort coach Bonnie Tan said the plan was to wear down Eastern (5-2), which just came off a game against San Miguel Beer in the East Asia Super League in Hong Kong last Wednesday.

Tan’s crew scored 20 points off transition against their rivals, who didn’t have the legs as the Batang Pier went on a telling 10-3 run to seize a 116-105 cushion.

“It’s always fun to play ‘yung dayo ‘yung kalaban mo or you’re playing outside the country kasi may kasamang factor na gusto mo’ng manalo. And that’s what happened today,” said Tolentino.

Later, Ricardo Ratliffe turned in 38-19 as Magnolia arrested a four-game skid with a 99-95 overtime thriller over NLEX. The Hotshots improved to 2-4 while dealing the Road Warriors (3-4) their third successive defeat.