By REYNALD MAGALLON
In a comment that went viral on social media, Converge assistant coach Danny Ildefonso took a swipe at NorthPort, the team that drafted his son, Dave, for the alleged lack of grit to win.
Days after, the Batang Pier showed that they can, they will, and they definitely want to.
Arvin Tolentino went on a massive scoring spree and exploded for 51 points as NorthPort mauled Converge, 135-109, to pick up its second straight victory in Group A of the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 29.
Tolentino came out firing right from the get go and never slowed down until the end as he made one of the biggest single-game scoring performances in recent history, becoming the first player to at least score 50 points since Stanley Pringle did it also for Globalport in 2016.
The last time that a local player scored 51? It traces 20 years back in time when Asi Taulava also scored the same in 2004.
The 28-year-old wingman scored in double-digits in all of the quarters as the Batang Pier left the FiberXers in the dust right on the first half when they seized a commanding 68-49 lead at the break.
NorthPort never looked back since then as the lead even ballooned to as high as 29 points with Converge not getting into a run enough to threaten the huge Batang Pier lead.
Tolentino added seven rebounds and three assists to his historic night while Joshua Munzon chipped in 19 points while anchoring the defense with five steals as NorthPort improved to a 2-1 record.
Jio Jalalon added 13, Damie Cuntapay 10 and William Navarro 10 which more than made up for the rare shooting slump to import Venky Jois who could only muster six points although he had 13 rebounds.
Scotty Hopson paced Converge with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists but were not enough as the team couldn’t sustain the momentum from his four-point game-winner last time against TNT.
Alec Stockton added 19 while Justin Arana finished with 16 points before exiting the contest due to an ankle injury. Schonny Winston also added 16 – which all went down the drain as the FiberXers slid to a 2-2 slate.
