NorthPort weathered a scary fourth quarter storm by Barangay Ginebra in a 119-116 escape to tighten its grip on the top spot in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Wednesday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

The Batang Pier squandered an 18-point lead but recovered just in time with a little help from the lucky breaks that went their way in the closing seconds for their seventh win in eight outings and first victory over the Kings in five years.

“Tonight’s game is a statement game for us. Everyone’s questioning about our status as a team, that we can’t pull off wins over big teams. I hope with this win, we’re here to win games,” NorthPort coach Bonnie Tan said as his squad secured at least a playoff for a quarterfinals seat.

“We’re here as a competitive team and not just a pushover squad” Tan added after the Batang Pier’s first win over Ginebra since 14 December 2019 in Game 1 of the Governors’ Cup semifinals.

NorthPort import Kadeem Jack scored 32 points including a split from the charity stripe in the last one second of the match to ice the game. He also pulled down 16 rebounds in the squad's second straight win.

The Kings overtook the Batang Pier, 101-100, after a furious fourth quarter rally punctuated by a followup dunk by Troy Rosario off a miss by Justin Brownlee with 7:03 remaining.

NorthPort got back in front but Ginebra refused to go away after Brownlee fished and took a foul from Will Navarro while attempting a three with eight seconds remaining while trailing by three, 117-114.

The three-time Best Import nailed his first attempt but bricked the second. He sank his last to push the Kings within one.

Joshua Munzon split his foul shots on the other end giving Ginebra one last try to pull a reversal but Brownlee slipped and lost the ball in his hard drive to the basket with just two ticks left.

Arvin Tolentino finished with 29 points before fouling out with 2:02 left in the game while Munzon had 27 markers for the Batang Pier's perfect new year start.

The Kings saw their two-game win streak snapped as they slid to a 5-3 mark.         

Brownlee had a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds but turned the ball over eight times. Scottie Thompson, RJ Abarrientos and Rosario all chipped in 17 markers each while Maverick Ahanmisi and Stephen Holt added 12 and 11, respectively, for Ginebra.

The scores:

NORTHPORT (119) --- Jack 32, Tolentino 29, Munzon 27, Flores 9, Navarro 8, Bulanadi 5, Onwubere 4, Cuntapay 3, Yu 2, Nelle 0, Jalalon 0

GINEBRA (116) --- Brownlee 23, Thompson 17, Rosario 17, Abarrientos 17, Ahanmisi 12, Holt 11, Cu 9, J.Aguilar 8, Tenorio 2

Quarters:  31-27, 67-58, 98-87, 119-116