Batang Pier down but not out as Anthony remains confident of playoff chances

NorthPort’s playoff hopes have become bleaker after Magnolia handed the Batang Pier their sixth straight loss in the PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday night.

But its Sean Anthony isn’t throwing in the towel just yet.

“We still have a good chance,” the tireless forward told reporters after their 103-90 defeat at the hands of the Hotshots at the Big Dome.

But in the same breath, Anthony can’t help but rue what seems to be a trend in their losses in the all-Filipino conference.

“Once again, we were OK in the first three quarters and we fell apart in the fourth,” Anthony shared with a long face and somber tone.

“I think we all were forcing things and we stopped doing what we did the first three quarters, which was play as a team,” he added.

But the late-game meltdown? That’s all on him. “That was on me, I got tired, forced some shots,” Anthony offered.

Batang Pier led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter. They were in control in the third before finding themselves at the bad end of a 27-8 run in the payoff period.

They now sit on a 2-6 record for the 11th spot in the standings.

Anthony admitted that frustration is bubbling under the Batang Pier. But he remains optimistic that they are going to come around to pull themselves out of a rut.

“There’s some frustration and whatnot but I think we’re all still bonding together. There’s still three games left so we still got a shot at this,” he said.

NorthPort needs nothing less of a sweep when they face streaking TNT, recovering Alaska, and crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra in their final stretch begins this Friday at Ynares in Antipolo.

“We still have a good chance,” Anthony stressed. “We have to figure this out.”