NLEX leaned on hustle—and mostly luck—in the endgame to avert disaster versus Terrafirma and escape with the 101-100 victory to go 2-0 in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup, Saturday at the Ynares Center II in Montalban.
The Road Warriors already built a comfortable 90-67 cushion entering the payoff period, but the Dyip rallied back behind Justin Strings and the veteran tandem of Maverick Ahanmisi and Juami Tiongson to impose a major threat.
The trio joined hands for a 9-0 run, capped by the new import’s tough jumper off an isolation set, to cut the gap to just a point with 42.7 seconds left.
NLEX got itself in a truly precarious situation when Xyrus Torres and Robert Bolick missed potential daggers, but managed to defend well enough to deny Tiongson and Strings from getting any good look in the final possession.
(C) PBA Images
“I think you have to give a lot of credit to Terrafirma. I thought they played great. I have to do a better job. I don’t think I did a very good job in that fourth quarter,” said Coach Jimmy Alapag as they got blown out in the fourth, 11-33.
“I think the zone gave us some issues, and that’s credit to Terrafirma and their staff. But I thought we were able to get the stops we needed,” he added.
DeQuan Jones led the Road Warriors with 30 points alongside seven rebounds and four assists as he powered their second-quarter breakaway to seize control of the game before the opposition came back roaring down the stretch.
The comebacking import poured 16 of his points in the said period, including 12 in the 18-0 run en route to a big 62-41 lead with 1:42 left before the break.
Deschon Winston supplied 13 points, five rebounds, and six assists while Bolick added 12 for NLEX, who’s starting a conference at 2-0 for the second straight time this season, according to PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.
Alapag and his charges will look to stay atop Group A when they take on the still winless Titan Ultra this Tuesday, July 14, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
(C) PBA Images
Tiongson, meanwhile, led Terrafirma with 19 points, four rebounds, and three assists as he’s starting to get his groove back in his homecoming of sorts.
Ahanmisi also had 19 points alongside six rebounds and the same amount of assists, while Strings finished with an 18-13-6 stat line in the narrow loss.
Up next for the Dyip would be Juan Gomez de LIano and Converge, whom they will play on Wednesday, July 15, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores:
NLEX 101 – Jones 30, Winston 13, Bolick 12, Alas 9, Bahio 8, Semerad 8, Gonzales 5, Valdez 4, Herndon 4, Torres 3, Rodger 3, Capulong 2, Ramirez 0, Gamboa 0, Nieto 0.
Terrafirma 100 – Ahanmisi 19, Tiongson 19, Strings 18, Bravo 9, Catapusan 9, Eriobu 7, Paraiso 6, Hanapi 6, Chiu 5, Umali 2, Mariano 0, Zaldivar 0.
Quarterscores: 32-29, 65-48, 90-67, 101-100.
