By REYNALD MAGALLON
Barangay Ginebra simply proved to be too much for the Arvin Tolentino-less NorthPort, cruising to a convincing 106-93 victory in the quarterfinals of 2023-’24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the PhilSports Arena on Friday, Jan. 19.
Tony Bishop set the tone for the rout as the Kings seized control of the contest in the second frame and never looked back from there to set up a marquee semifinals showdown against the San Miguel Beermen.
Bishop showed the way with a double-double of 29 points and 13 rebounds while Jamie Malonzo provided support with 21 points and seven rebounds. Best player of the conference frontrunner Christian Standhardinger filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks.
Maverick Ahanmisi added 16 while Scottie Thompson had a quiet night in the scoring department with just four points but made up for it with 10 assists and seven rebounds.
The Kings led by as many as 23 points in the first frame as they quickly took advantage of the absence of Tolentino, the league’s leading local scorer. The Batang Pier, though, refused to go down without a fight and tried to rally in the second half behind the efforts of JM Calma, Joshua Munzon and import Venky Jois.
The Beermen, on the other hand, rode on a huge offensive display in the third quarter to dispatch the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 127-122.
With Bennie Boatwright carrying much of the scoring cudgels in the first half, the rest of the Beermen picked up the slack after the break, erupting for 42 points to establish a sizeable margin that proved to be enough to weather a late Elasto Painters storm.
SMB ended ROS’ splendid run that saw it string six straight victories after a 0-5 start to the conference to advance to the semifinals against either NorthPort or Barangay Ginebra.
Boatwright led the charge for the Beermen with 41 points, built on five triples, along with 10 rebounds while Jericho Cruz, who was one of the key cogs in the huge third quarter run, provided support with 20 points.
Terrence Romeo finished with 15 points while Chris Ross added 14. June Mar Fajardo chalked up an all-around effort of 13 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and five steals while CJ Perez chipped in 11 points and seven assists.
