MANILA, Philippines — NLEX sought redemption and it got what it wanted Monday.
The Road Warriors avenged the only time they lost in a finals series with an 81-78 win over Blackwater Elite in a heart-pounding finish to cap off another perfect conference in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup Monday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“I said last conference that, it was redemption, but this championship is really the real redemption due to the fact that we swept Blackwater,” declared NLEX head coach Boyet Fernandez after the Road Warriors bagged their sixth championship, second coming off a sweep – replicating their feat two years ago – where they also went 13-0.
“This championship is much sweeter because we swept the team that swept us two conferences ago.”
Jake Pascual led NLEX in scoring with 15 points while Nigerian center notched 14 points and 14 rebounds.
The Elite rode on the broad shoulders of Reil Cervantes in the second half. Cervantes, who could see himself back playing in the PBA next season, fought off fatigue and dropped a game-high 31 points that went with seven rebounds.
Cervantes though, just couldn’t get enough wind to push Blackwater all the way through a deciding game as he misfired on a contested 3-point attempt with the Elite down two in the waning seconds of the heated contest.
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Two-way forward Kevin Ferrer added 20 points for Blackwater, which found its way back from a 10-point deficit twice and even managed to take a 59-54 lead late in the third quarter.
Ferrer and Cervantes scored 23 of their team’s 24 points in the third period.
“Our objective is to give NLEX the championship this year because this is the conference that we lost so we wanted to bounce back so that’s extra motivation,” Fernandez stressed.
NLEX along with Blackwater and Kia were the three teams accepted to be part of the PBA starting next season.
“And that’s a given, hoping that NLEX will go up in the PBA. It would really be a great sendoff if we win the championship,” said Fernandez.
“And come to think of it, you’re playing against a team that was also accepted in the PBA. So it’s nice, if we make it to the PBA, if ever it pushes through, that would be a good story with two D-League teams playing in the PBA.”
NLEX guard Kevin Alas bagged the MVP award but the former Letran star didn’t have the kind of game he would’ve wanted with just three points, four rebounds and three assists in 26 minutes.
“Kevin deserves to be the MVP. He is the leader of the team in terms of the point guard position,” Fernandez said.
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