NBA veteran Jonathan Simmons and Kevin Alas combined for 63 points to power NLEX Road Warriors to a surprisingly easy 124-102 victory over Blackwater Bossing in the PBA Governor’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Simmons, who played for San Antonio, Orlando, and Philadelphia in the NBA, scored 10 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter to give NLEX a winning start in this season-ending conference.

The 6-6 small forward from Houston went 9-of-21 shooting on top of nine rebounds and seven assists in 36 minutes of action.

Alas came off the bench to score 31 points on 11-of-17 shooting with eight rebounds for the Road Warriors of coach Frankie Lim.

Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser added 21 points and five rebounds, Anthony Semerad had 15 points and Matt Nieto contributed 12.

Shawn Glover led the losing effort of the Bossing with 26 points on 11-of-23 shooting in 41 minutes on the floor. He added seven assists, five rebounds and four blocks for the Ariel Vanguardia- mentored Bossing.

Backing up Glover were Renato Ular, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Baser Amer and Yousef Taha, who added 13 points each.

Actually, NLEX outscored Blackwater, 40-21, in the fourth quarter to win pulling away after leading by only three, 81-84, at the end of three quarters.

Later, TNT rode on Jalen Hudson’s 34.points to subdue Phoenix Super LPG, 123-119, on Jojo Lastimosa’s debut.

Hudson, who made six triples, also had 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Tropang Giga.

Meanwhile, Converge and Meralco gun for their second win when they take on Terrafirma and NorthPort, respectively,

The scores:

First game

NLEX (124) – Simmons 32, Alas 31, Ganuelas-Rosser 21, Semerad 15, Nieto 12, Gabo, Pascual 3, Trollano 3, Anthony 2, Miranda 0.
Blackwater (102) – Glover 26, Ular 14, Amer 13, Taha 13, Suerte 9, Ilagan 8, McCarthy 5, Banal 4, Casio 3, Sena 3, Escoto 2, Torralba 2, Hill 0.
Quarterscores: 26-22, 58-56, 84-81, 124-102

Second game

TNT (123) – Hudson 34, Pogoy 21, Oftana 17, Chua 10, K.Williams 10, Castro 10, M.Williams 9, Tungcab 9, Khobuntin 3, Varilla 0, Montalbo 0, Marcelo 0.
Phoenix (119) – Maxwell 21, Perkins 20, Garcia 18, Tio 16, Serrano 12, Jazul 11, Alejandro 8, Muyang 5, Camacho 4, Soyud 2, Manganti 2, Lojera 0, Lalata 0, Adamos 0, Go 0.
Quarterscores: 29-33, 60-60, 93-89, 123-119.