MANILA – NLEX Road Warriors erased an early deficit to topple Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings, 115-103, in the 2021-2022 PBA Governors’ Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Import KJ McDaniels tallied double-double 26 points and 10 rebounds in his farewell game as the Road Warriors secured a twice-to-beat edge in the quarterfinals with its 8-3 slate.
Kevin Alas added 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Kris Rosales, Bacolodnon Justin Chua and Celedonio Trollano had 17, 15 and 14, respectively.
Down by as much as 15 points in the first quarter, the Road Warriors leaned on outside conversions from Chua and Rosales to trim the deficit to 53-58 at the half.
The Road Warriors continued its run in the third period with inside conversions from McDaniels and outside hits by Rosales as the lead reached 87-77 early in the fourth.
The Kings clawed its way back to within 86-89 but consecutive drives from Alas and outside baskets by JR Quiñahan and Chua preserved the win for the Road Warriors.
Justin Brownlee had triple-double 36 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, while Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar had 16 and 15 points, respectively, for the Kings.
In the first game, TNT Tropang Giga returned to the league from its Gilas Pilipinas break on a winning note as the walloped Blackwater Bossing, 106-93, to move up to 5-4.
Mikey Williams was at the forefront of offense for the Tropang Giga in the first half as they jumped to a 49-36 lead before widening it to its largest at 87-67.
The Bossing, however, made its last push to cut the deficit to 85-96 on free throws by Shawn Glover but the Tropang Giga got timely hits from Williams to seal the win.
Williams finished with 23 points, while Aaron Fuller, Roger Pogoy and Ryan Reyes added 16 points each for TNT, which returned to PBA after most of its players suited up for Gilas in the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers last week.
BOX SCORE:
NLEX 115 — McDaniels 26, Alas 18, Rosales 17, Chua 15, Trollano 14, Quiñahan 10, Nieto 5, Murrell 4, Paniamogan 3, Ighalo 3, Soyud 0.
GINEBRA 103 — Brownlee 36, Standhardinger 16, J. Aguilar 15, Thompson 14, Tenorio 9, Chan 7, Onwubere 2, Tolentino 2, Pinto 2, R. Aguilar 0.
Quarterscores: 20-33, 53-58, 83-77, 115-103./PN
