NLEX displayed patience and great resolve to turn back Blackwater, 99-88, and stay in the leaderboard of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Ynares Center-Antipolo.
The Road Warriors calmly wiggled out of danger after allowing their early 15-point third-quarter lead to just four with a telling run to start the payoff period on their way to a third straight victory.
NLEX improved to a 4-1 win-loss record while sending the pesky Bossing to a third straight setback.
JB Bahio had a productive night, putting up a career-high 23 points on 11-of-15 field goal shooting to go with six rebounds and two assists for the Road Warriors.
Xyrus Torres added 18 points, Robert Bolick submitted a double-double of 15 markers and 12 assists on top of five rebounds while Kevin Alas unloaded 13 points for NLEX.
The Road Warriors zoomed to eight straight points to start the final canto after closing the third period ahead by just five. NLEX kept its distance the rest of the game.
Head coach Jong Uichico felt the need to address the Road Warriors’ sudden stalling after erecting a significant gap.
The veteran mentor was talking about NLEX allowing its 62-47 advantage to be trimmed to just 64-60 after Blackwater rookie Jack Cruz-Dumont’s basket with 2:45 left in the third quarter.
“We always have that lull. We always have that in certain games. We have to find out why we have a lull somewhere within the game in the past few games, where we allow our opponents to catch up. Then we have to overcome that. Maybe we should be able to find out why we have that lull,” he said.
“It’s a concern but at least it’s showing now, so we can find our adjustments moving forward.”
Bahio completed a three-point play in the last 5:55 of the game to give the Road Warriors an 87-74 advantage.
Sedrick Barefield finished with 19 points but struggled from the field with 6-of-15 shooting while Dalph Panopio scored 12 for Blackwater, which slipped to a 1-3 card.