MANILA – NLEX Road Warriors survived a
furious run by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to escape with a 100-97
victory in the 2019 Honda PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Smart
Araneta Coliseum.
Ahead 96-88, the Painters came up with a huge run to come to within 97-98 and
had a chance to win it but NLEX’s John Paul Erram blocked ROS’ Denzel Bowles
hit.
Road Warriors import Oluseyi Ashaolu
sealed the win with free throws.
Ashaolu finished the match with 26 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, while former
Painter Jericho Cruz had 15 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Road
Warriors (2-7).
From a deadlock after the first 12 minutes, the Road Warriors went on a strong
run in the second period behind Erram, Cruz and Juan Miguel Tiongson for a 51-38
halftime edge.
The Painters started strong in the third period and was able to come to as
close as 55-60 before the Road Warriors pulled away to 78-62 on triples of Cruz
and Erram.
ROS again made the match close in the fourth period at 80-84 but back-to-back three-pointers by Kenneth Ighalo and inside hits from Ashaolu and Cruz increased NLEX’s lead to 96-88.
Bowles finished the match with 35 points and nine rebounds while Kris Rosales tallied career-high 18 points, including three triples, for the Painters, which slumped to 3-4 card.
In the second game, the Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters got it going in the second half to score a 111-103 victory over the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings.
Down by 12 points in the opening half, the Fuel Masters launched a huge run in the third period for an 87-77 edge before holding off Kings’ run in the fourth.
Matthew Wright fired 32 points, while Richard Howell had double-double 31 points and 21 rebounds for the Fuel Masters. Justin Brownlee had 31 markers for the Kings./PN
