Robert Bolick of NLEX battles two Barangay Ginebra defenders. PBA photo
NLEX sneaks into q’finals
NLEX Road Warriors formalized their entry to the quarterfinal round with a tense 76-72 win over Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Needing a victory to avoid a knockout game for the last playoff spot, the Road Warriors banked on Robert Bolick and Richie Rodger to stave off a determined rally by the Kings and escaped with their sixth win in 11 matches.
Bolick finished with 25 points on 10-of-24 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds, while Rodger added 11 points, including two free throws that sealed the win with 1.1 second left.
Robbie Herndon added nine poiints, six rebounds and two steals, followed by Anthony Semerad with eight points and five rebounds and Michael Miranda with eight points and six rebounds.
Christian Standhardinger was the top player for Ginebra with 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists despite sitting out the closing minutes.
Japeth Aguilar and Maverick Ahanmisi added 15 and 14 points, respectively. Stanley Pringle had nine points and six rebounds and Louis Cu had five points, eight rebounds and five assists.
With the win, the Frankie Lim-mentored Road Warriors finished in a heavy five-way tie for third seventh places with Meralco, TNT, Rain or Shine and Magnolia with similar 6-5 win-loss records.
San Miguel Beer (10-1) and Ginebra (7-4) took the top two seats.
After applying the quotient tiebreak, the Bolts, the Tropang Giga, the Elasto Painters, the Road Warriors and the Hotshots finished in such order.
As such, the quarterfinal round will pit No. 1 San Miguel against the winner of the playoff match between Terrafirma and NorthPort on Wednesday; and No. 2 Ginebra against Magnolia.
The Beermen and the Kings enjoy twice-to-beat advatages.
No. 3 Meralco will meet No. 6 NLEX and No. 4 TNT will battle No. 5 Rain or Shine in best-of-three quarterfinals showdowns.
The scores:
NLEX (76) — Bolick 25, Rodger 11, Herndon 9, Miranda 8, Semerad 8, Amer 7, Anthony 4, Marcelo 4, Fajardo 0, Valdez 0, Taha 0.
Ginebra (72) — Standhardinger 19, J.Aguilar 15, Ahanmisi 14, Pringle 7, Cu 5, Thompson 4, Tenorio 2, Pessumal 2, Onwubere 2, David 0, Pinto 0, Murrell 0.
Quarterscores: 23-16, 35-32, 59-54, 76-72.
Game Wednesday:
(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)
7:30 p.m.– NorthPort vs Terrafirma
