With its campaign on the line, NorthPort was finally able to end its long dry spell.
The Batang Pier played with a sense of urgency to pull off a rousing 109-83 triumph over favored TNT KaTropa and snap a six-game slide, keeping their quarterfinal bid alive in the 2019 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
With his team badly needing him to be at his best, Stanley Pringle answered the challenge, pouring in a game-high 27 points on 62-percent shooting, to go with nine rebounds for a near double-double.
After improving to 3-6, NorthPort kept itself in the running for a quarterfinal berth.
However, the Batang Pier need to sweep their remaining two games and hope that the results of the other tiffs go in their favor to be able to have a chance at cracking the top eight.
The loss was a costly one for TNT KaTropa.
Not only was their five-game winning streak snapped, the Tropang Texters also saw their chance of ending up in the top two vanish as they ended their elimination round campaign at 7-4.
Still, TNT is already safely through to the quarters and will now await where it will end up in terms of seedings.
Behind Pringle’s steady offensive exploits, the Batang Pier were able to catch the Tropang Texters off guard.
The fiery guard led his team’s onslaught in the decisive second quarter as the Batang Pier outscored the Tropang Texters, 31-15, to take a whopping 22-point cushion, 53-31, at the turn.
NorthPort already set the tone early by opening up a 22-16 advantage at the end of one.
The Batang Pier then did what they failed to do in their last six losses – take care of business in the second half.
This time around, NorthPort did not let down and continued pouring it on to finally secure a win.
Sean Anthony also had 14 points for the Batang Pier, while Mo Tautuua and Paolo Taha each added 13 markers.
Don Trollano scored 15 points for TNT, which was never in the game at any point.