Games today:

(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)

5 p.m. — NorthPort vs Magnolia

7:30 p.m. — Rain or Shine vs Eastern

NLEX never lifted its foot on the gas pedal right from the get-go to run over Terrafirma, 104-85, for back-to-back wins in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Tuesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Robert Bolick played like a well-oiled machine, stuffing the score sheet with 32 points in an efficient 11-of-14 shooting from the field including a perfect 2-of-2 from the four-point area to lead the Road Warriors to a 2-1 win-loss record.

Mike Griffin-Watkins had a monster game of 26 points and a conference-high 30 rebounds for NLEX, who built a 25-point lead in the third quarter but had to fight off a scary run by the Dyip in the final canto.

Xyrus Torres scored 15 points and Tony Semerad got 13 for the Road Warriors.

“Happy with the locals’ contributions but it’s our import’s dominating presence inside that gave us good open looks,” Bolick said.

“I’m happy with my output today because I took few shots but was efficient. That’s how I want my game to be in the coming conferences, few shots but efficient.”

But while Bolick was happy with how the Road Warriors dominated the game, head coach Jong Uichico was not particularly satisfied with how his wards put their guards down when already leading by a mile.

A once comfortable, 67-42, lead was dismantled by Terrafirma in a fourth quarter storm to just 88-81 after a Kevin Ferrer trey with 4:49 left.

NLEX showed composure down the stretch to weather the storm but Uichico felt it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

“Why do they have to weather the storm? They were in control of the game, why do they have to put themselves in that situation?” he said.

“We gave up 55 points in the second half. They put themselves in that situation. It’s good that they weathered the storm but they should not have put themselves in the storm.”

Watkins and Bolick took over in the final stretch to rescue the Road Warriors from a monumental meltdown.

The Dyip remained winless in three games.

Terrafirma import Ryan Richards stayed on court for 17 and a half minutes after just a second of action in the team’s 101-113 loss to NorthPort last Saturday but was barely felt with just six points and seven rebounds.

Vic Manuel led the Dyip with 22 points while Ferrer and Aljun Melecio chipped in 10 markers each.

The scores:

NLEX (104) — Bolick 32, Watkins 26, Torres 15, Semerad 13, Rodger 7, Herndon 3, Bahio 2, Fajardo 2, Valdez 2, Alas 2, Mocon 0, Amer 0, Marcelo 0.

TERRAFIRMA (85) — Manuel 22, Melecio 10, Ferrer 10, Pringle 9, Zaldivar 7, Nonoy 6, Richards 6, Sangalang 5, Olivario 3, Catapusan 3, Hernandez 2, Paraiso 2, Ramos 0, Hanapi 0.

Quarters: 27-11, 51-30, 75-62, 104-85.