After ending the Commissioner’s Cup with a two-game winning streak, the NLEX Road Warriors started their practices earlier than most teams. And it paid off in their Governors’ Cup opener as the Road Warriors opened their campaign with a 112-104 victory over the still-struggling Alaska Aces, Wednesday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“Medyo iba yung pakiramdam. Isang panalo na lang mata-tie na namin yung record namin last conference,” first-year NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao quipped. “We really prepared to compete this conference. We made a lot of major decisions towards the end of last conference. We practiced the earliest among all the teams.”
This is NLEX’s third win out of three games against Alaska, a team that has yet to taste victory since April 2, 2017. Alaska’a nine-game skid is also their franchise-worst.
“Natiyetiyempuhan lang namin. We prepared really hard for their press,” Guiao furthered.
Aaron Fuller, who arrived in the country a week after NLEX’s elimination, finished with a monster double-double with 30 points on 13-for-24 shooting and 20 rebounds in 39 minutes of action. The 27-year-old made his presence felt during NLEX’s late-game rally.
With the game knotted at 94-all with 4:53 left, the Road Warriors sizzled as a Juami Tiongson triple sparked a 17-5 rally. Fuller then scored the last six points of the rally, including a thunderous putback dunk off a Kevin Alas miss with 1:29 left.
Alas also had a spectacular game for NLEX as the Gilas pool member finished with 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting to go along with eight rebounds. Tiongson added 13 markers/
“We will cling on to any positive development that will motivate us even more, coming from two last place finishes. It’s a fresh start for us as we hope to capitalize on the momentum we gained to end last conference,” said Guiao as NLEX is now on a three-game winning streak.
LaDontae Henton finished with 27 points but was limited to just four points in the final frame, shooting just 9-for-26 in the game. Simon Enciso added 21 markers, going 6-for-13 from distance to match his total makes for last conferencr.
Calvin Abueva went just 3-for-14 from the field but was still able to finish with a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. However, Alaska was greatly out-rebounded by NLEX, 52-72.
NLEX looks to make it two in a row when they face the Kia Picanto on Saturday, July 22 at 3:00pm. Alaska, on the other hand, hopes they can avoid to extend their skid to 10 games when they face the Phoenix Fuel Masters on the same day at 5:00pm.
The Scores:
NLEX 112 – Fuller 30, Alas 20, Tiongson 13, Quinahan 9, Rios 8, Taulava 8, Mallari 7, Al-Hussaini 6, Soyud 6, Fonacier 3, Lastimosa 2, Baracael 0, Monfort 0, Ighalo 0, J. Villanueva 0.
Alaska 104 – Henton 27, Enciso 21, Abueva 12, Banchero 11, Thoss 10, Manuel 9, Casio 7, Racal 5, Dela Cruz 2, Magat 0, Exciminiano 0, Mendoza 0, Baclao 0
Quarterscores: 23-24, 56-55, 83-79, 112-104
