BLACKWATER found its winning ways again at the expense of a gritty but undermanned NLEX squad and posted a convincing 96-85 victory in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.
The Elite snapped their two-game losing skid and improved to a 3-2 record, while dealing the Road Warriors their third loss in four outings.
Art dela Cruz starred for Blackwater, carrying the cudgels for his squad as Mac Belo came out with a sub-par performance after a brilliant showing in the Elite’s first two victories.
Dela Cruz capped the night with 18 points and eight rebounds, enough to earn the Best Player of the Game honors.
Not to be outdone, Kylie Pascual also had an impressive performance, finishing with 16 points off an 8-of-10 shooting from the field.
Ronjay Buenafe and JR Sena were the only other Elite players in double figures, contributing 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Belo, meantime, mustered nine points, five rebounds and five assists.
Despite the victory, Blackwater coach Leo Isaac feels that they have escaped with the victory because of NLEX’s lack of manpower.
The Road Warriors actually came out without most of its key players, including Asi Taulava, Alfonso Gotladera, and Enrico Villanueva.
“It just so happened that NLEX is lacking key players, although we did prepare well for this game considering the last 2 setbacks that we had especially against Rain or Shine,” said Isaac.
“Hopefully, we can continue on our victorious momentum… one player cannot win the game for the whole team. It has to be a total team effort,” added Isaac.
Although they controlled the game most of the way, the Elite were at their best in the fourth period when they posted an 87-72 lead after an 8-to-nothing salvo.
The Road Warriors came no closer than at 92-83 on Mac Baracael’s basket, but Pascual and Pinto connected with a basket each as the Elite sealed the win, 96-83, less than 30 seconds left.
The Elite, behind the guns of Ronjay Buenafe, Art dela Cruz, Raymond Aguilar and James Sena, kept the lead most of the way in the first two quarters as they outshone NLEX’s gunners in Carlo Lastimosa, Sean Anthony,Raul Soyud and Mac Baracael.
It was ironic though the two teams were almost even in the statistics.
The Elite, who took the first half 47-41, converted 19 of their 44 attempts, which was a little bit better than the Road Warriors’ 18-of-42 field goals. Even in rebounds, the two teams were not that far from each other, with Blackwater having 25 to NLEX’s 23.
The Road Warriors got more assists than the Elite, 12-10, while the two teams had 11 turnovers each.
The Elite nevertheless got to build a 38-31 lead late in the second period which they padded to 45-36 on Reil Cervantes’ triple with 1:150 left in the same period. Mac Baracael came through with a triple whiel Eric Camson translated an alley oop pass as NLEX moved within 45-41, before Nard Pinto improved Blackwater’s lead at the half at 47-41.
The scores:
BLACKWATER 96—Dela Cruz 18, Pascual 16, Buenafe 13, Sena 11, Belo 9, Aguilar 8, Cervantes 7, Pinto 6, Ababou 4, Gamalinda 2, Miranda 2, Sumang 0.
NLEX 85—Lastimosa 23, Baracael 16, Soyud 9, Anthony 8, Camson 6, Guinto 6, Khobuntin 5, Alas 4, Monfort 4, Rios 2, Villanueva J. 2.
Quarterscores: 24-18, 47-41, 77-64, 96-85