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Blackwater ends skid, sends NLEX to 3rd straight loss
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BLACKWATER sorely needed a funk-snapping win and was admittedly lucky enough to be ranged against a severely undermanned foe in NLEX Wednesday.
The Elite fully pounced on the opportunity, unleashing a fine performance on both ends of the court to emerge a 96-85 winner over the Road Warriors to get back in the thick of things in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Art dela Cruz scattered 18 points and three teammates scored at least 11 points each as Blackwater cut short a two-game slide while notching its first-ever win in seven total meetings with NLEX.
“We needed this victory to propel us back to our winning ways and hopefully we can continue on with this momentum,” said Blackwater coach Leo Isaac, whose team improved to 3-2 overall.
Carlo Lastimosa had 23 points — 11 above his conference average — to lead all scorers, but got ejected for a second technical foul, still 2:35 left. Mac Baracael was the only other NLEX player in double figures with 16, some 11 above his own norm.
The Road Warriors played minus the injured Rico Villanueva and Garvo Lanete, as well as Asi Taulava, who was suffering from migraine, and those absences clearly took their toll on the Road Warriors, who absorbed their third straight loss and are now 1-3.
“It just so happened that NLEX was lacking some key players due to some injuries or any other reason and Blackwater just took advantage of that situation,” said Isaac. “Buti na lang. This situation was favorable for Blackwater.”
Sean Anthony, who led NLEX in its first three games with 14.3 points, wound up with only eight on 4-for-11 shooting. He did haul down a team-high 11 boards.
The Elite did their own part in the win as Kyle Pascual added a career-high 16 points, Ronjay Buenafe 13 and James Sena 11. Guard John Pinto only had six points but hauled down a gamehigh 13 boards.
Those efforts more than made up for Mac Belo scoring only nine points, 10 below his average, and enabled Blackwater to erect as much as an 87-72 spread, off Dela Cruz’s hook, 6:09 left to play.
In all, the Elite came up with a plus-nine advantage in rebounds and managed to offset their 27 miscues by limiting the Road Warriors to just a plus-five edge in turnover points.
Isaac said his team’s turnaround from a 93-107 loss to Rain or Shine last Friday was due to the lengthy talks he had with his players since.
“There are situations wherein players would want to play on their own, not committing to the offensive rules that we have,” related Isaac.
“It’s okay if they could produce results if they go on their own, but hindi ganun ang nangyari. Players got frustrated… but I told them it has to be a team effort all the way.”
NLEX never led and only tied the game once at 2-all before finding itself trailing by as many as 14 points twice in the third period after Dela Cruz scored eight of his points and Belo seven of his own.
The Road Warriors closed the gap from 64-77 to 72-79 behind a Baracael-led surge, but Pascual, Dela Cruz
and Belo made timely baskets before Pinto’s drive made it a very safe 96-83 count, only 76 seconds remaining.
Raymund Aguilar, who led Blackwater with 15 points against Rain or Shine, scored all of his eight points in the first half, helping Blackwater post a 47-41 lead at the break.
Buenafe actually led Blackwater’s early surge with nine of his points in the first quarter while the likes of Dela Cruz, Sena, Pascual and Reil Cervantes were foremost among those who helped keep NLEX at bay in the
first two periods.
NLEX missed nine of its first 14 attempts from the field and had seven turnovers in as many minutes and Blackwater was quick to pounce, even erecting a 24-14 spread.
POST GAME INTERVIEW
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EDITORS' PICK
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