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BOCAUE — Kevin Alas caught fire in the payoff period to propel NLEX past Blackwater, 93-90, and into the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals Sunday at Philippine Arena here.
Alas, the former Letran hotshot, pumped in 16 points built on four treys in the fourth quarter as he led the Road Warriors’ comeback en route to their fourth straight win.
“Our last four wins were just grind out wins and this is no exception. Good thing Kevin Alas saved the day for us. He made fantastic shots and even I was surprised,” said NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao.
It turned out to be a career night for Alas, who finished with a career-best 25 points, while also hauling down eight rebounds and dishing out five assists as NLEX rose to fourth place with a 6-4 record.
Guiao bared that he has been urging the fourth-year guard to rely on his three-point shooting more.
“I’ve been getting on Kevin’s outside shooting past games. But I did not expect that it will pay dividends this early,” he said. “Today, he showed us that he’s an outside threat. That’s just incredible shooting, the best I’ve seen him shoot from the outside this past one and a half years.”
Alas’ hot-shooting allowed NLEX to overturn a 65-74 deficit to start the fourth canto to build an 84-78 lead with 7:04 remaining.
Blackwater rallied with Allein Maliksi cutting the deficit down to three, 93-90, with a split from the free throw line with 7.4 ticks left, but Mac Belo missed a potential game-tying triple as time ran out.
Kiefer Ravena continued his stellar play inside, this time, uncorking 23 markers on top of three boards, and three steals, while Juami Tiongson got nine points, four rebounds, and three assists.
Mike DiGregorio led Blackwater in scoring with 16 points, while JP Erram had a double-double of 14 markers and 17 rebounds.
The defeat brought the erstwhile-streaking Elite back to earth as they drop to 4-6.
The scores:
NLEX 93 — Alas 25, Ravena 23, Tiongson 9, Quiñahan 8, Al-Hussaini 6, Baguio 5, Mallari 5, Soyud 4, Ighalo 3, Miranda 3, Fonacier 2, Gotladera 0, Taulava 0.
BLACKWATER 90 — DiGregorio 16, Erram 14, Jose 14, Maliksi 13, Sena 12, Belo 10, Palma 6, Marcelo 5, Pinto 0.
Quarters: 23-20, 41-46, 65-74, 93-90.