NORTHPORT survived a near disaster at the finish versus San Miguel Beer, escaping with a 105-104 decision to put itself back in a good position to nail a twice-to-beat incentive in the PBA Commissioner's Cup playoffs.
The Batang Pier blew away a big 24-point lead in the third but Kadeem Jack delivered in the clutch in this crucial Tuesday tiff at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo, lifting NorthPort past SMB and into a tie with Converge at 8-3.
Coach Bonnie Tan's crew will take a three-day respite before going for a 9-3 closing mark versus the Blackwater Bossing Saturday at the same venue. A day earlier, Converge goes for the same versus San Miguel Beer.
With back-to-back losses with new import Malik Pope, the Beermen yielded solo eighth spot, falling in a logjam with the Magnolia Hotshots and the NLEX Road Warriors at 4-6.
San Miguel has Converge and TNT as final assignments while Magnolia has Eastern and Meralco to close out its elims stint, and NLEX has Rain or Shine and Eastern as last two games.
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The Batang Pier checked a two-game slide and pumped back life on their Top Two aspiration in weathering San Miguel's fourth-quarter storm on Jack's endgame exploits to highlight a 38-point game.
Jack drilled in the go-ahead on a tough spinning fadeaway shot and as San Miguel threw away its final possession, the Batang Pier pulled through even with Arvin Tolentino missing two free throws in the last 2.1 seconds.
Tolentino finished with 22 points, Will Navarro chipped in 17 while Joshua Munzon added 12 for the Batang Pier who pounced on a dismal showing by the SMB import.
Pope scored just four points on 2-of-8 clip from the field and 0-of-3 from the stripe in 23:19 minutes of action in the first three quarters.
And SMB coach Leo Austria opted to bench his import in the final quarter.
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June Mar Fajardo (24 points and 15 rebounds), CJ Perez (21-5), Don Trollano (16-6) and Moala Tautuaa (14-6) carried the load as the Beermen waged a spirited chase and moved ahead at 104-103 with 26.5 seconds to go.
But Jack wouldn't let his team down, beating the Beermen in the end.( SB)
The scores:
NorthPort 105 - Jack 38, Tolentino 22, Navarro 17, Munzon 12, Nelle 6, Bulanadi 6, Flores 2, Tratter 2, Yu 0, Miranda 0, Cantupay 0.
San Miguel 104 - Fajardo 24, Perez 21, Trollano 16, Tautuaa 14, Tiongson 10, Cruz 6, Pope 4, Lassiter 3, Cahilig 3, Rosales 3, Ross 0.
Quarterscores: 36-22, 69-52, 91-74, 105-104
