NorthPort ‘gave up in the last 5 minutes’ vs Rain or Shine

MANILA, Philippines—NorthPort head coach Pido Jarencio had a simple explanation for the Batang Pier’s 107-1001 loss to Rain or Shine, 107-100, in the PBA Philippine Cup Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

“We gave up in the last five minutes,” said Jarencio as his team dripped to a 2-2 record.

“We were there, we were in control and then they changed their lineup with [Gabe] Norwood and [Mark] Borboran on the floor at the same time and that was when we stopped playing the right way,” added Jarencio in Filipino.

Borboran entered the fourth at the 10:07 mark and that was when the complexion slowly started to change for the Elasto Painters as they went on a 16-4 run to take a 97-95 lead after Maverick Ahanmisi’s three-pointer with 5:31 left.

The Batang Pier answered with a five-point swing to take a 100-97 lead less than two minutes later but that was NorthPort’s final hoorah of the game.

James Yap hit a big three-pointer with 2:50 left to give the Elasto Painters a 102-100 lead that highlighted Rain or Shine’s game-closing 10-0 run.

Jarencio said the team relaxed on defense and that was what irked since he described his offense as adequate.

“Suddenly our bigs were not pressuring their [Rain or Shine] bigs and defensively we relaxed,” said Jarencio. “We were okay on offense but basketball is all about defense because if you don’t have defense you won’t win for sure.”

“We cannot play 43 minutes, we have to play 48 minutes of good basketball.”