Old habits die hard.
Just like in the opening game, NLEX almost blew another big lead with a shaky second half outing before hanging tough in the closing minutes for a 100–95 escape over clingy Phoenix in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Rob Herndon bailed out the Road Warriors from a monumental meltdown with a huge corner three in the last 19.5 seconds to extend their lead to four on their way to securing their second straight win in as many games tied with Rain or Shine in Group B.
Myke Henry finished with 37 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead NLEX, who saw its 23-point advantage at halftime evaporate in the second half and even went four points down late in the fourth period.
“We had almost the same scenario in the last game but we were able to weather the storm earlier. Now we weathered the storm a little bit late,” said head coach Jong Uichico, whose squad also got into trouble late against Blackwater last Thursday before pulling through.
“But during that stretch, we really lost our composure. We lost our defensive rules, we lost everything. And they pounced on that. We were struggling on the bench about what to do, what was wrong. There’s really nothing wrong except that we lost how to execute the defense,” he added.
“Give credit to them they were able to read what we’re doing but also credit to us for overcoming that adversity.”
What was once a comfortable cushion of NLEX was reduced to a seesaw match in the last quarter.
RR Garcia nailed a four-pointer to give Phoenix a 93-89 lead with 2:43 left.
The Road Warriors fought back with seven straight points for a 96-93 advantage in the last 1:18 of the game. The Fuel Masters made one final push with Garcia sinking another basket to cut their deficit down to one with 30.1 ticks left.
Henry then found an open Herndon for the dagger. Henry sealed it with a split from the line.
NLEX got its game going in the first half as it stepped on the gas pedal to leave Phoenix choking on its dust for a 53-30 lead at the intermission.
Henry torched the Fuel Masters with 21 points on 8-of-11 field goal shooting to lead the Road Warriors’ 37 starter points.
Phoenix absorbed its second defeat in as many outings.