Depleted and all, NLEX still came through the way even without its star guards Kiefer Ravena and Kevin Alas.
The Road Warriors were without their two best locals with Ravena serving an 18-month suspension from Fiba after testing positive for banned substances in the World Anti-Doping Agency List, and the injured Alas still recovering from a torn ACL.
It took a collective effort to fill the holes left by Ravena and Alas and NLEX drew contributions from across the board in their win over the Blackwater Elite on Wednesday.
READ: NLEX guard Kevin Alas out for 8 months due to ACL injury
“We try to get something out of everybody. We’re squeezing the players who haven’t been playing that much before,” said NLEX head coach Yeng Guiao after a 93-89 victory. “Guys like Jansen Rios played a really good game, quality minutes for us today. Kenneth Ighalo, Emman Monfort just mentioning those guys who need to come off the bench and take up the slack left by Kiefer and Kevin.”
All 12 Road Warriors who played scored led by import Arnett Moultrie, who tallied game-highs of 26 points and 16 rebounds. Alex Mallari added 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals, Juami Tiongson had a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists while Rios, Ighalo and Monfort combined for 18 points.
NLEX had 35 assists and played tremendous defense down the stretch where they forced Blackwater to miss all of its 10 field goal attempts in the final five minutes and 23 seconds.
READ: Remorseful Kiefer out of PBA for 18 months
Ravena and Alas were in attendance at Araneta Coliseum and the two couldn’t keep a smile off their faces seeing their teammates rise to the challenge.
“I’m really happy because even when I was still playing this conference we were still trying so hard to fill the void left by Kevin and now it’s the two of us so everybody is trying to fill the void and Kevin and I are integral parts of the offense and seeing them having 35 assists, just goes to show the team can do it,” Ravena said.
“Our teammates stepped up and I’m happy. I hope they will continue to step up because this is a big opportunity for them,” said Alas.