KJ McDaniels, Jericho Cruz, and Kevin Alas took turns in providing big baskets for the NLEX Road Road Warriors, who snapped the Alaska Aces’ three-game winning run with a 106-89 win on Wednesday in the 2021-22 PBA Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
McDaniels and Alas, who took charge in a big, first-quarter offensive, knocked in 27 and 19 points, respectively, to power the Road Warriors to their sixth win in nine matches.
Jericho Cruz added 21 points for the Road Warriors, doing most of the damage in the third period for NLEX, which remained on track for a quarterfinals slot.
Road Warriors’ coach Yeng Guiao Guiao said their back-to-back wins have eased his worries after the team missed players like Calvin Oftana and Tony Semerad because of injuries.
“We were able to complement their absence. Malaking bagay ito,” said Guiao.
The Road Warriors, who knocked in 13 of 38 triples throughout the game, got 12 points from Cruz in the third, with his trey in the last 5:02 putting the contest out of reach as they took a 25-point spread, 75-50.
The Road Warriors eventually enjoyed their biggest edge at 29 at 86-57 behind Kris Porter’s jumper, at the 1:17 mark of the third.
Earlier, the Road Warriors connected with seven three-pointers in the first quarter to construct a commanding 38-17 edge.
Alas strung up three triples, while Mike Nieto and McDaniel canned in one and two, allowing NLEX to take command following a 0-2 start.