ANTIPOLO — Arvin Tolentino served a highlight play that’ll make waves for a while late in NorthPort’s eventual win over Rain or Shine on Sunday.
The 28-year-old wowed the crowd inside the Ynares Center here as he posterized Gabe Norwood with a one-handed jam for an emphatic finish to the break.
And that slam pushed their lead to 107-99 with 2:09 left in the game.
His slam served as one of the Batang Pier’s finishing blows en route to securing the 113-101 result to go 2-0 into the PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup.
Tolentino shared that Norwood wanted to chase him down, which he learned about as they had a brief chat about it during the match.
“Actually nag-usap kami ni Gabe during the game, after nun,” he recalled postgame. “Tinanong ko siya. Plano niya talaga habulin kasi I was planning talaga to go hard sa basket. And ‘yun nga, endgame, winning time an.”
But the young star said that he was lucky enough to complete the play that should go viral online. Although he’s aware, too, that it could have gone differently some years ago, as what the 38-year-old quipped to him.
“Siguro two years ago mahahabol ni Gabe ‘yun eh. But swerte na lang kasi nakuha ko. Siya nagsabi nun, ‘Maybe two years ago, I could’ve got that.'”
That dunk was icing on the cake for Tolentino, who erupted for 35 big points exactly a year after he recorded his first PBA career 30-point outing.
Looking back, he finished with 31 points on November 12, 2022 to lead the Batang Pier to the 91-85 win over Terrafirma in the Commissioner’s Cup eliminations, which also took place in the same venue.
“Actually, ngayon ko lang naman na ‘yung last career-high ko was same day, and same venue rin. Sana dito na lang lagi,” he said, smiling.
But making Sunday’s showing even more special for Tolentino was the presence of his mom courtside, who watched him live in the PBA for the first time.
“‘Yung mommy ko, nanonood. First time niya manood, actually, ng game ko,” he shared. “Kasi kinakabahan siya ‘pag naglalaro ako. Mama’s boy eh. So hindi siya masyado nanonood, ngayon nandiyan siya.”
