MANILA – Elvin Jake Pascual came up with timely baskets in the endgame as NLEX Road Warriors prevailed over San Miguel Beermen, 102-94, in the 2023 PBA on Tour last night at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
After seeing their lead cut to 94-96 by the Beermen, Pascual converted two straight inside baskets from the Road Warriors to stretch the advantage to 100-94 with under a minute left.
Pascual also made his presence felt on the defensive end as he forced Beermen’s Siverino Baclao to a turnover before Kevin Alas sealed the win for the Road Warriors with a layup.
Pascual finished the match with 10 points, with eight coming in the fourth quarter, to go with eight rebounds, three steals and an assist as the Road Warriors snapped their losing skid to move up to 2-4.
Dominick Fajardo top-scored with 20 points, Celedonio Trollano contributed 19 markers, while Alas, Ilonggo Clint Doliguez and Matt Nieto had 15, 13 and 12, respectively, for NLEX, which went down by as much as 19 points in the contest.
Allyn Bulanadi tallied 26 points, including four three-point connections, while Ilonggo Jericho Cruz and Rodney Brondial had 22 and 20 markers, respectively, as the Beermen dropped to 2-5.
Meanwhile, Meralco Bolts returned to their winning ways following a lopsided 108-90 victory over sister team TNT Tropang Giga. The Bolts improved to 4-2, while the Tropang Giga dropped to 0-5.
The Bolts were scorching since the opening quarter as they surged to a 24-14 lead behind conversions from Allein Maliksi, Kier John Quinto and Raymond Almazan. The Tropang Giga, however, kept the match close in the second and third period as they trail 67-74.
Meralco went to work in the fourth quarter as conversions from Maliksi, Quinto and Franky Johnson allowed them to breakaway from TNT and established their largest lead at 20 points.
Maliksi finished the game with 28 points, including five three-point conversions, Quinto added 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Johnson and Almazan contributed 13 points each for the Bolts.
BOX SCORE:
NLEX 102 – Fajardo 20, Trollano 19, Alas 15, Doliguez 13, Nieto 12, Pascual 10, Rosales 8, Adamos 4, Anthony 1, Giussani 0.
SAN MIGUEL 94 – Bulanadi 26, Cruz 22, Brondial 20, Baclao 9, Apacible 7, Faundo 7, Dela Cruz 3, Lee 0, De Vera 0.
Quarterscores: 25-20, 39-58, 73-77, 102-94./PN
