By Jonas Terrado
NLEX held off a late rally by Phoenix Pulse to preserve a 104-97 win Friday afternoon and sweep the four-team PBA preseason tournament at the Upper Deck Sports Center in Ortigas.
JR Quinahan’s late jumper enabled NLEX to seal its tune-up win over Phoenix Pulse. (PBA Images)
JR Quinahan’s jumper with 15.8 seconds left gave the Road Warriors the cushion after the Fuel Masters racked up 18 consecutive points to cut a 100-79 deficit down to three with less than a minute to go.
Quinahan posted 15 points, Philip Paniamogan posted 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Raul Soyud added 12 for NLEX in the conclusion of its campaign in the mini-tourney dubbed as the “Phoenix Super Basketball Tournament.”
Coach Yeng Guiao’s team was without Poy Erram and Kiefer Ravena, who left for Jakarta to represent Gilas Pilipinas’ match against Indonesia in the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Also missing was guard Jericho Cruz, who will play for Guam in the Asia Cup Qualifiers against New Zealand.
The Road Warriors went unbeaten in the week-long competition which included wins over the San Miguel Beermen (103-97) and the Alaska Aces (104-89).
“We got a good lead but we relaxed in the latter part of the fourth quarter so to me thats a bad sign,” Guiao said. “But we played really well for three and a half quarters, so konti na lang. That’s something I think we can fix in the next few weeks.”
In the other game, Alaska escaped with an 81-79 victory over San Miguel Beer to finish the tourney at 2-1.
The Aces had to withstand at the Beermen’s last-ditch effort to sneak out a win as Alex Cabganot missed a three-pointer in the final seconds.
Robbie Herndon had 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and five steals while Rodney Brondial added 14 points and 17 rebounds for Alaska.
Cabagnot scored 22 points for the Beermen, who lost all three games in the pocket meet while also watching Terrence Romeo suffer an ankle injury before the end of the second quarter.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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