Bossing bulldoze over Batang Pier to barge into win column

MANILA, Philippines — The Blackwater Bossing tallied their first win in the PBA Philippine Cup after obliterating the NorthPort Batang Pier, 120-98, Friday evening at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Blackwater ran away in the second half, scoring 72 points, to grab its first victory through three games while dealing NorthPort its second straight defeat.

Six different players scored in double digits for Blackwater led by Sedrick Barefield, who finished with 20 points to go with four assists, three rebounds and three steals. Christian David chipped in 19 points and six rebounds. RK Ilagan and Richard Escoto had 17 and 15 points, respectively, with the former dishing out eight assists and three rebounds, while the latter notched six boards. BJ Andrade and Troy Mallillin also finished with 14 and 10 markers.

“I think it’s really just, because we got our butts kicked a little bit the first two games, we wanted to take advantage of the 12 days in between games,” Blackwater head coach Jeffrey Cariaso told reporters after the game.

“It wasn’t perfect at practice, a lot of challenges, but guys never stopped working hard. The simple focus is go back to the drawing board and push more, get better and today it showed,” he added.

The game was tight through the first half, with Blackwater leading by just one, 48-47.

But a 40 point third quarter turned the tides the Bossing’s way.

NorthPort was trailing by nine, 72-81, with 1:33 remaining, but a 4-pointer by Andrade, followed by a triple by Escoto, pushed the lead to 16, 88-72, heading into the fourth.

And with momentum firmly on their side, the Bossing continued to ravage NorthPort in the fourth period, leading by as much as 27 points, 104-77, after an Ilagan triple.

NorthPort tried to slowly nip the lead away, slicing the deficit to 21, 90-111 after an Arvin Tolentio trifecta, but the winning team had answer after answer.

Joshua Munzon filled up the statsheet in the losing effort with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. William Navarro backstopped with a double-double of 24 markers and 11 boards, while Tolentino finished with 15 points and six rebounds on a game-worst -19.

Blackwater will try to keep things going as they face the NLEX Road Warriors on May 2, while NorthPort will try to get back on track against Barangay Ginebra next Wednesday.