Barangay Ginebra secured a spot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals with a convincing 106-93 victory over NorthPort on Friday at Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Dealing with the absence of star player Arvin Tolentino due to a knee injury, the Batang Pier struggled against the Gin Kings, who surged to a lead of up to 23 points.
Tony Bishop led Ginebra with an impressive performance, contributing 31 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and a steal.
Jamie Malonzo added 21 points, seven rebounds, and two assists to stretch Ginebra’s win streak to five games.
With the victory, the Gin Kings will move to the semifinals to face their sister team, the San Miguel team, in a best-of-five showdown.
NorthPort managed to keep up with Ginebra in the first quarter, trailing the Kings by just 25-22.
But things did not go well for the Batang Pier in the second quarter when Ginebra unleashed a 30-point blast while NorthPort was held to just 13 markers.
The Kings were already sure of a victory midway through the fourth, although coach Tim Cone felt they could have done better.
“I’m certainly disappointed with our play in the second half,” he said during the post-game presser. “We came out with playoff intensity in the first half, but in the second, we came out a little bit sloppy. We weren’t back well on defense. We started taking it a little bit for granted.”
“You do that to San Miguel; you’re gonna get blown out. There’s a lot of things to clean up before we can meet San Miguel on even terms.”
Joshua Munzon topscored for NorthPort with 19 points.
The Scores:
GINEBRA 106 – Bishop 31, Malonzo 21, Standhardinger 18, Ahanmisi 16, Pringle 8, Thompson 4, Tenorio 3, Pinto 3, J. Aguilar 2, Onwubere 0, Pessumal 0
NORTHPORT 93 – Munzon 19, Calma 19, Jois 18, Zamar 12, Paraiso 5, Flores 4, Bulanadi 4, Yu 3, Chan 3, Taha 2, Rosales 2, Adamos 2, Amores 0
QUARTERS: 25-22, 55-35, 76-63, 106-93
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