Tolentino, Batang Pier keep head high

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite exiting the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals, NorthPort Batang Pier’s Arvin Tolentino voiced pride with what they accomplished in the import-laden conference.

Tolentino’s squad finished on top of the elimination round with a 9-3 slate, their first time to do so.

After booting out the Magnolia Hotshots in the quarterfinal round, they ran into a brick wall that is Barangay Ginebra, who defeated them in the semifinals four games to one.

In all their losses, NorthPort faced a margin of 22.0 points per game.

After their 126-99 Game 5 loss on Friday evening, Tolentino stated that he is proud of what the team accomplished this conference.

“Well, I guess, siguro it’s a great experience for us as a team. Last game, ang ganda ng nilaro namin, we fought really hard para ma-extend ang series. But yun nga, ngayong laro, medyo kinapos,” he told reporters.

“But I’m proud of my teammates and I’m proud of what the team accomplished this conference. Before nga, wala namang nag-akala na magpe-playoffs kami or magna-nuimber one. Sino ba namang… kahit nga kami hindi namin akalaing mag-number 1 kami e. Pero we still believed,” he added.

After being the virtual frontrunner in the Best Player of the Conference race at the end of the quarterfinals, Tolentino struggled mightily against the defense of the Gin Kings.

His numbers dropped to 12.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. While his rebounding and assists were almost the same as his 7.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per contest in the elimination round, his scoring took a massive hit from the 23.0 points per game in the elims.

Still, Tolentino stressed how proud of his teammates for picking up the slack.

“I’m proud of the effort na binigay ng mga teammates ko, the hard work and sacrifice, tapos I guess as much as we want to feel sorry for ourselves, ngayong laro after this conference, we still overachieved. It’s something na we have to be proud of. It just so happened na nakalaban namin ang Ginebra sa semis. Malakas naman,” he said.

“They're a great team and we’re still happy dun sa naging result ng conference namin. Like I said, wala namang nag-akala na magpe-playoffs or magse-semis or magna-number one kami. Dami rin naming nagawang history this conference e.”