North Port gets big scare vs importless NLEX

MANILA, Philippines — Sean Anthony saved NorthPort from the blushes as he keyed the Batang Pier’s grindout 83-79 win over importless NLEX for a 2-0 start in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Anthony broke a a 79-79 standoff with a clutch putback then grabbed the defensive board after an NLEX miss, drew a foul and calmly sank his charities to wrap up the Petron Blaze Saturday Special game where NorthPort mostly played catchup in.

Anthony finished with 17 to back up Robert Bolick’s 18 while reinforcement Prince Ibeh delivered 15 markers and 19 rebounds against the locals of NLEX (0-2), which was forced to play all-Filipino as it couldn’t secure the papers of Tony Mitchell in time. 

“NLEX is a tough team. Coach Yeng (Guiao) is a tough coach. It’s hard to beat them and it boiled down to breaks of the game. They had no import, it went down to the wire but I’ll take it, a win is a win,” said NorthPort coach Pido Jarencio.

Even with Mitchell unable to suit up, the Road Warriors pushed the Batang Pier to the limit and even enjoyed a nine-point margin at 41-32 in the second quarter.

NorthPort finally caught up with NLEX in the second half and took a 71-65 upperhand halfway through the fourth before the Road Warriors unleashed a counter-attack and seized a 74-73 margin. Anthony, though, sparked a 10-5 blast towards the finish, capping his heroics with the go-ahead followup off a Bolick miss and a defensive rebound off a Marion Magat flubbed triple culminating in the insurance freebies.

Ken Ighalo took the cudgels for NLEX with 18 with Poy Erram contributing 10 points and nine rebounds.

Later in the night, Terrence Jones went on another scoring rampage, dropping 43 before his ejection as TNT roared to back-to-back triumphs at the expense of Alaska, 99-85. The Aces dropped to 1-2.

The former Houston Rocket was sent off with 2:11 left after committing a flagrant foul penalty one in a scramble with Jake Pascual. With an earlier technical, this led to his ejection. 

The scores:

First Game

NorthPort 83 – Bolick 18, Anthony 17, Ibeh 15, Tautuaa 14, Taha 10, Elorde 6, Grey 3, Lanete 0, Gabayni 0.

NLEX 79 – Ighalo 18, Soyud 12, Galanza 11, Erram 10, Fonacier 7, Tiongson 6, Paniamogan 5, Magat 4, Paredes 2,  Baguio 2, Lao 2, Taulava 0, Rios 0, Tallo 0.

Quarterscores: 18-25, 35-43, 59-57, 83-79.

Second Game

TNT 99 – Jones 43, Castro 14, Semerad A. 11, Pogoy 9, Rosario 8, Heruela 7, Trollano 4, Taha 2, Williams 1, Semerad D. 0, Casino 0.

Alaska 85 – Daniels 23, Casio 22, Banchero 12, Racal 8, Pascual 7, Teng 5, Enciso 4, Thoss 2, Cruz 2, Exciminiano 0, Baclao 0, Galliguez 0, Ayaay 0.

Quarterscores: 24-23, 50-48, 73-63, 99-85.