NorthPort dug deep and withstood Magnolia, 113-110, to maximize its win-once incentive and book the first ticket to the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup semifinals, Thursday evening at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Batang Pier overcame a tepid start and erased a 14-point lead through a huge third-quarter turnaround, but still needed some help from luck in the endgame to make sure that their quarterfinal advantage won’t go into waste.
Arvin Tolentino nailed a one-hander to give themselves enough breathing space at 111-108 with 46.5 seconds left, before the crew as a whole leaned on their defense to prevent the traditional contenders from coming back into the match.
A missed four by Paul Lee and a split by Allyn Bulanadi with 2.8 ticks to spare proved enough to help NorthPort seal its first semis trip since the 2019 Governors’ Cup, with the team still bannered by Christian Standhardinger.
