ANTIPOLO — NLEX recovered from plateauing in the middle quarters and left Macau frustrated yet again, 106-97, to nab its third successive win in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center here, Tuesday.
The Road Warriors wasted a hot start after allowing the Black Knights to take the second and third chapters in their favor, but came out strong in the fourth with JB Bahio leading the decisive run that put them back ahead for good.
Coach Jong Uichico’s charges unloaded a 16-3 assault–capped by a Robert Bolick trifecta from the wing–for the 90-81 lead with 7:21 to go, never to let up.
Eventually, the crew would roll toward improving their record to 5-1, joining Meralco once more at the no. 2 spot of the team standings–these two, interestingly, are set to face off one another this Friday in Montalban.
(C) PBA Images
“It was a grindout game today. It’s good that we came out with the win. Now we learned how to win in grindout games, na laro lang nang laro even if things are not going the way we planned it to be,” the champion mentor said.
Cady Lalanne bannered NLEX with 28 points and 18 rebounds plus three blocks on the way to bagging home another Player of the Game citation.
Deschon Winston supplied 24 points, including the four-point play with exactly 35 seconds left for the 104-97 lead, shutting the door close on their foes.
Bolick flirted with a triple-double by finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds, and 11 assists as he contributed mostly in the fourth-quarter reversal.
Bahio came through with 15 points and seven rebounds, while LJ Gonzales, Kevin Alas, and Dominick Fajardo all contributed significantly in the triumph.
(C) PBA Images
Macau, on the other hand, fell to its seventh loss in as many games and is left with no choice but to win its six remaining games to make a playoff push.
Tony Mitchell led the guest team with 32 points and 11 rebounds in his best scoring performance this conference. Damian Chongqui made 19 points and seven assists while big man Ramon Cao tallied a 16-84 stat line.
Jenning Leung had 12 points and seven assists while Phoenix Shackelford added 10 markers for the Black Knights, who will take on another slumping team in Titan Ultra next Tuesday, April 21, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Scores:
NLEX 106 – Lalanne 28, Winston 24, Bolick 17, Bahio 15, Gonzales 7, Alas 6, Fajardo 4, Torres 3, Rodger 0, Racal 0, Ramirez 0.
Macau 97 – Mitchell 32, Chongqui 19, Cao 16, Leung 12, Shackelford 10, Sun 3,J. Li 3, X.Li 2, Lao 0.
Quarterscores: 28-21, 52-52, 74-48, 106-97.
