NLEX rebounds, hands Big Chill’s first loss behind Lanete’s 24

Garvo Lanete of NLEX (light) vs Mar Villahermosa of Big Chill (dark). PBA D-LEAGUE IMAGE by Nuki Sabio

MANILA, Philippines – Raring to bounce back, defending champion NLEX led wire-to-wire in a grind-it out 97-88 win over Big Chill in a heated matchup in the PBA D-League Aspirants’ Cup Monday at the Trinity University of Asia gym.

The Road Warriors, coming off a 78-83 loss to Hog’s Breath Cafe Razorbacks last Thursday, let their frustrations out on the Superchargers from the get-go to build leads as big as 18 points before holding on for their fourth win in five outings despite losing Nigerian center Ola Adeogun, who was ejected early in the third quarter

“If you think about it, Ola (Adeogun) won’t hurt anyone,” said a livid NLEX head coach Boyet Fernandez just moments after the game. “They have to check the referees. The physicality is really bad, the calls are really bad.”

Adeogun was sent out of the court after getting into it with Superchargers’ power forward Dexter Maiquez, who got a technical foul, during a dead-ball situation at the 7:18 mark of the third period.

“Come to think of it, who’s going to hurt someone between Ola and Maiquez? It’s Maiquez, it can’t be Ola,” added Fernandez.

Sensing a momentum swing, Big Chill pulled to within seven, 41-48, just seconds after Adeogun’s ouster before NLEX quickly responded with a 23-12 blast in the final six minutes of the third period to extend its advantage back to 18, 71-53.

“It just shows that if you call it properly we won’t be having any problems with that but if you call it unfairly then we’ll have a problem and then it woke up the players and they played really well,” said Fernandez.

The Superchargers, who suffered their first setback after a 6-0 start, got to within seven again after trailing close to 20 points, 69-76, on a triple by Reil Cervantes to cap off a 16-5 run with still 6:35 left.

Big Chill though, would never threaten again as Garvo Lanete took over.

Lanete topscored with 24 points, 14 in the final frame, on four-of-five shooting from deep including a deep trey from the right wing that stretched the Road Warriors lead back to 10, 83-73, with 4:16 to go.

Cervantes and stocky guard Brian Heruela had 18 points apiece for the Superchargers. Heruela also had game-highs 13 rebounds and eight assists in an all-around effort.

Big Chill shot just nine-of-35 from downtown with usually reliable snipers Janus Lozada, Mar Villahermosa and Khazim Mirza going one-of-12 from that distance.

Lanete sealed the game at the line with two freebies, 93-83, 26.7 seconds left.

Pamboy Raymundo, the former Talk ‘N Text guard, immediately made his presence felt in just his first game for NLEX with 14 points, six rebounds and six assists.