NLEX Road Warriors celebrate. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Sean Anthony towed NLEX to a 111-106 stunner that foiled Rain or Shine’s bid for an outright semifinals berth in the Petron Saturday Special of the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Anthony poured a new career-high 37 points, including the Road Warriors’ last eight points to carry them to the thrilling win. He also had six rebounds and five assists.
The NLEX victory sent the Elastopainters down to no. 3 while awarding Alaska and San Miguel the outright semifinals entries.
Despite the win, NLEX could only get to as high as seventh with a 5-6 card and ranked higher than Barako Bull due to the win-over-the other rule. Its quarterfinal pairing will be the number six seed–the loser of the TNT-Ginebra matchup—which will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage.
“We’re happy that we won this game. We wanted to have a positive output coming to the quarterfinals,” said NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez, whose wards snapped a four-game losing skid. “I just told the boys that eventually, we will win and we just have to think positive.”
Asi Taulava also got 15 markers and 10 boards, while Jonas Villanueva had 14.
It was Mac Cardona, though, who became the unlikely hero for NLEX, stealing the ball twice, including the crucial snatch from Jeff Chan, which led to an Anthony and-one with 5.3 seconds to go that iced the game.
Cardona had a do-it-all performance with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals, enough for Fernandez to credit him for the win.
“Even though he’s not playing in our previous games, when we pulled him out, he really stepped up. I appreciate him for the capacity he’s been doing for the team,” the coach said.
The NLEX fought back from 13-point deficit in the third quarter as Anthony kept NLEX afloat, dropping 11 points in the third frame and following it up with 13 in the payoff period.
The Road Warriors also capitalized on the early penalty situation for Rain or Shine and went 19-for-27 from the line, enough to slowly crawl them back to the matchup.
“Whatever happens, we’re happy to win this one and hopefully bring that positivity to the playoffs. It will be a tough one for us, but we’ll be ready,” said Fernandez.
Beau Belga led the Elasto Painters with 18 points and seven rebounds before fouling out late in the fourth, while Jeff Chan got 15 markers in the defeat.
The Scores:
NLEX 111 – Anthony 37, Taulava 15, J. Villanueva 14, Cardona 11, Alas 9, Lanete 7, Enciso 6, Reyes 6, E. Villanueva 6, Borboran 0, Khobuntin 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 106 – Belga 18, Chan 15, Ponferrada 13, Tiu 11, Almazan 10, Cruz 9, Nimes 9, Quinahan 6, Ahanmisi 5, Norwood 5, Teng 3, Matias 2, Trollano 0.
Quarters: 33-32, 56-61, 83-88, 111-106.