Barangay Ginebra simply proved to be too much for the Arvin Tolentino-less NorthPort, cruising to a convincing 106-93 victory in the quarterfinals of 2023-’24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the PhilSports Arena on Friday, Jan. 19.

Tony Bishop set the tone for the rout as the Kings seized control of the contest in the second frame and never looked back from there to set up a marquee semifinals showdown against the San Miguel Beermen.

Bishop showed the way with a double-double of 29 points and 13 rebounds while Jamie Malonzo provided support with 21 points and seven rebounds. Best player of the conference frontrunner Christian Standhardinger filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two blocks.

Maverick Ahanmisi added 16 while Scottie Thompson had a quiet night in the scoring department with just four points but made up for it with 10 assists and seven rebounds.

The Kings led by as many as 23 points in the first frame as they quickly took advantage of the absence of Tolentino, the league’s leading local scorer. The Batang Pier, though, refused to go down without a fight and tried to rally in the second half behind the efforts of JM Calma, Joshua Munzon and import Venky Jois.

NorthPort, however, couldn’t get any closer after cutting the lead down to just 10 points, 73-63, with 41 seconds left in the third quarter.

Calma, who tried to carry the fight for NorthPort, poured 16 of his 19 points in the final frame to go along with his 10 boards. Joshua Munzon made an effort to pick up the slack in Tolentino’s absence with 19 points while Jois had a triple-double of 18 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assist to leave lasting impression in the Batang Pier uniform.