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NLEX rose from a 21-point hole to shock Rain or Shine, 111-99, and fan its quarterfinals hopes in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Road Warriors import Henry Walker had game-highs 23 points and 12 rebounds, while rookie Garvo Lanete fired 12 of his career-tying 21 points in the fourth quarter, including back-to-back triples in the last two minutes.
“This game is really about my players they simply didn’t give up. We were down and I’m just happy that my players didn’t give up,” said NLEX head coach Boyet Fernandez, whose team trailed by as much as 21, 48-27, in the second quarter.
“Garvo came back i the fourth quarter and he made those threes,” Fernandez added. “Without their heart and effort, we would’ve probably lost this game. I’m glad we got this win. This gave us another chance to live another day.”
Paul Lee paced the Elasto Painters (4-5) with 23 points, six rebounds and five assists. ROS’ replacement import Jason Forte had another poor outing, finishing with only seven points and six rebounds and was benched in the final seven minutes of the game.
With NLEX up by only seven, Lanete drilled successive 3-pointers for a 107-97 lead at the 1:32 mark to seal his team’s fourth win in nine games.
NLEX matched its biggest comeback in franchise history. The other time the Road Warriors came back from 21 points down was during the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup when they took down the San Miguel Beermen.