PBA-DL: NLEX Road Warriors shake off rust, best Big Chill

The NLEX Road Warriors are again a win away from making it back to the PBA D-League Foundation Cup Finals. The defending champions heated up at the right time as they poured it on in the fourth quarter, to get a 66-59 win over the Big Chill Super Chargers, Tuesday at the Blue Eagle Gym.

Kirk Long played 25 solid minutes with 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting while also getting two rebounds, four assists, a block, and a steal. The former Ateneo Blue Eagle also played defense against a familiar foe, the high-scoring Terrence Romeo, for most of the game.

Jake Pascual and RR Garcia, Romeo's teammate with the FEU Tamaraws, added 10 apiece.

NLEX head coach Boyet Fernandez however did not sound like he was happy with his team's performance. "We're rusty. We weren't ourselves this game. We had a lot of turnovers and we missed a lot of free throws," said Fernandez.

"But I'm happy we escaped this ugly game with a win."

Greg Slaughter scored eight points in the game including seven in the fourth quarter to carry the Road Warriors to the victory.

"I really don't know what happened today but a win is a win. If we play the same way we played today [again], we're going to be in trouble," Fernandez added. "I'm just happy that Greg stepped up in the fourth quarter to get us the win. Credit to Greg Slaughter because he didn't want to lose."

The Big Chill Super Chargers climbed out of the quarterfinals even with a twice-to-win disadvantage. They need to do the same thing again if they wish to make it to the Finals. Romeo led them with 21 points in the game while Jeckster Apinan added 11.

The first game of the best-of-three series started very slowly for the two teams. Big Chill looked like it was still tired from its quarterfinals series against the Fruitas Shakers, while NLEX looked rusty from their long break.

Jeckster Apinan scored five points in the first for Big Chill with Terrence Romeo and Arvie Bringas combining for five more points.

Kirk Long led the first quarter charge for the Road Warriors with four points, but it ended with Big Chill holding a 10-8 lead.

A jumper from RR Garcia at the 6:18 mark of the second quarter proceeded a basket from Kevin Alas to give NLEX a 14-10 advantage. The baskets refused to drop in for Big Chill as they missed 21 straight field goal attempts. A lay-up by Kirk Long gave NLEX a 20-12 lead, before an Isaac Holstein jumper finally ended the drought for the Super Chargers.

Ronald Pascual answered the Big Chill basket with a triple for a 23-14 count in favor of NLEX, before Greg Slaughter made it a double-digit lead with a free throw. The Super Chargers were able to keep the game close with their free throws, but the Road Warriors finished the first half with a 27-20 advantage.


Romeo started the third quarter with six straight points to bring the Super Chargers within a point at 27-26. After Jake Pascual got a split from the line, Romeo broke down the NLEX defense and dished off a pass to Apinan to tie the ball game at 28-all.

Jake Pascual scored down low on the next possession but Romeo gave another assist, this time to Bringas, to tie the game at 30-apiece.

Romeo continued to wax hot from the field as he canned a three-ball from the top of the key to give Big Chill a 33-32 lead. The high-scoring guard's run was halted when he was whistled for his fourth foul with still 5:39 left in the third quarter.

Garvo Lanete then took advantage of Romeo's absence by retaking the lead for NLEX at 36-33 with a triple.

Apinan and Lozada conspired to give Big Chill the lead, but Eric Camson scored down low with 5.8 seconds left in the third to give the Road Warriors a 47-45 lead heading into the final quarter.

NLEX quickly built a seven point lead off an and-one play from Long and a basket from Greg Slaughter. Another and-one play, this time from Jake Pascual, gave the Road Warriors a 10-point buffer. Slaughter then added another basket at the 6:20 mark for a 57-45 lead for his team.

Romeo finally scored Big Chill's first points of the fourth quarter with a triple at the 5:43 mark, but Jake Pascual replied with a lay-up for a 59-48 count in the Road Warriors' favor.

Big Chill made a run late in the fourth quarter but Garcia buried two late baskets for a 66-56 lead with less than a minute to go. Mar Villaherosa then connected on a late triple to settle the score a 66-59.

Big Chill relied heavily on their three-point shooting to bring them to the semifinals but it betrayed them in this game. The Super Chargers only made four out of their 27 attempts, while NLEX converted on 5 of their 22 three-point tries.

The sub-par shooting stretched to the foul line, as the Super Chargers only made 17-of-28 attempts, while the Road Warriors submitted an even more atrocious clip by only hitting 17-of-38 free throws for a paltry 44.7 percent clip.

Another reason for the struggles of Big Chill was the absence of Mac Montilla and Janus Lozada on offense. The usually high-scoring duo only managed two points. Montilla went 0-for-8 from the field, scoring his two points from the free throw line, while Lozada went scoreless in 17 minutes on the floor.

The Road Warriors won the battle of the boards with 59 compared to only 56 for the Super Chargers. Jake Pascual grabbed 13 caroms for NLEX while Apinan got 15 for Big Chill.

"If we made our free throws, we could have gotten some separation," Fernandez said. "We need to step our game up on Thursday." - AMD, GMA News


The scores:

NLEX 66: Long 14, Pascual J. 10, Garcia 10, Slaughter 8, Pascual R. 5, Camson 5, Laneta 5, Alas 4, Salva 3, Ganuelas 2, Amer 0, Hermida 0, Taganas 0

Big Chill 59: Romeo 21, Apinan 11, Canlas 7, Bringas 6, Villahermosa 6, Holstein 4, Montilla 2, Santos 2, Heruela 0, Dumapig 0, Lozada 0  

Quarter scores: 8-10, 27-20, 47-45, 66-59