As many raised their eyebrows after NorthPort made the sudden import change despite the strong showing from Taylor Johns in the first game, the Batang Pier proved it right as returning reinforcement Venky Jois delivered the team’s first win in the Governors’ Cup.

Johns, to be fair, actually impressed with a near triple-double of 36 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists but NorthPort, with Jois in tow, simply looked a little better on both ends of the floor and that immediately translated to a 112-93 win over Terrafirma

The Batang Pier seemed to be more fluid and in sync with the Australian import, who already played for NorthPort and steered the team to a quarterfinals appearance in the Commissioner’s Cup of last season .

Head coach Bonnie Tan revealed that it was already the plan all along.

“We have a commitment talaga with Venky based on the last conference. He made us enter the quarterfinals,” said Tan after the game

“We just discussed yung lapses during the latter part of the conference that he played, which he understood also. Nagkaroon ng mutual understanding na that he will be back as our resident import sa NorthPort,” he furthered.

Jois, for his part, did not disappoint, putting up 16 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, a steal and a block across his name. He also somehow made a significant impact with the locals with William Navarro scoring a career-high 31 points and Arvin Tolentino almost achieving a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Tan also explained that Jois was really the import choice for NorthPort but just couldn’t make it on time for the first game against TNT.

“Venky is our resident import in terms of familiarity with our locals talagang nandun na siya. Hindi lang siya umabot ng first game namin but he was here already he has some personal commitments lang,” Tan pointed out.

“Kaya we have yung back up import namin si Taylor Johns. We all know he played well hindi rin naman tayo kukuha ng hindi maayos,” the NorthPort coach said of Johns.