MANILA: Pido Jarencio looked a little flustered entering the press room on Wednesday night, quite unusual after steering GlobalPort to a scrambling win that formally put his Batang Pier in the quarterfinals of the PBA Philippine Cup.

“My heart is bleeding,” Jarencio opened up after learning of his alma mater University of Santo Tomas’ loss to Far Eastern for the UAAP championship that went almost simultaneously with his Batang Pier’s 96-90 victory over NLEX at the Araneta Coliseum.

He wasn’t even quite in the mood to talk about how great Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle were, after the duo stood at the forefront of a hard-nosed stand in the final two quarters that prevented a big implosion from GlobalPort.

“I thought this was our time,” Jarencio said, still referring to the Tigers, whom he steered to the title in 2006 that opened all sorts of coaching opportunities for him in the pro league. “But life has to go on – for all of us.”

Jarencio survived a scare on the Big Dome before he was informed by several members of the team staff of the outcome of the UAAP Finals, dampening his mood immediately for the customary winning coach’s interview with the PBA Press Corps.

When he finally talked of the game that he was involved in, Jarencio beamed with pride.

“At least, we’re in the quarterfinals again. This team has gotten steadier since the first time I got here,” he said after getting the biggest lift, ironically enough, from a former FEU Tawaraw that has become the face of his GlobalPort crew: Romeo.

“The players really worked hard for this one, they were really focused because we knew what was at stake in this game, and that is separation from NLEX in the standings,” he said.

GlobalPort and the Road Warriors came into the contest tied in the leaderboard, and the win not only put the Batang Pier in the playoffs, it also kept them in the upper half of the bracket for that precious advantage in the quarterfinals – the twice-to-beat privilege.

After improving to 5-3 with their second straight victory, the Batang Pier are effectively within range of their target of finishing between Nos. 3 to 6 after the elimination round.

They also shoved the Road Warriors collective backs against the wall after dropping NLEX to a level 4-4 card.

The Road Warriors are now running No. 7 and would need to at least win two of their last three games to have a strong chance at a twice-to-beat privilege.

Romeo, who was the King Tamaraw when Jarencio was still with Santo Tomas, fired 29 points and Pringle finished with 27, 14 of them in the final two quarters as the Batang Pier thwarted several comeback attempts by the Road Warriors to prevail.

GlobalPort opened up an 18-point lead at halftime and looked ready for a cruise until Asi Taulava, the ageless 6-foot-10 veteran, led the Road Warriors swirling fightback by shooting 11 points in each of the last two periods.

Taulava finished with 29 points and Sean Anthony 17. Both plucked down 12 board each.

Meanwhile, San Miguel Beer, the defending champion, got 35 points and 12 rebounds from reigning two-time MVP June Mar Fajardo in a 102-86 victory over Mahindra to again reclaim top spot – although temporarily as it would seem.

Fajardo tossed in 31 of his total in the first three periods alone, finishing fastbreaks and even dishing out assists as he was the only one dialed in from start to finish for the Beermen, who jacked up their record to 7-1.

Brian Heruela fired 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Beermen, who dealt the Enforcers a sixth defeat in six games and similarly put Mahindra on cliff’s edge.

Aldrech Ramos scored 13 points, and KG Canaleta and rookie Bradwyn Guinto 12 each for the Enforcers, whose main gun, pint-sized point guard LA Revilla, was held down to eight by the unforgiving San Miguel defense.

[“We see LA Revilla as the heart and soul of the Mahindra team,” San Miguel coach Leo Austria said. “That’s why our game plan was to shut him down.”