Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—It could’ve been one hell of a comeback for Columbian but it eventually lost its steam in the fourth quarter to fall to NLEX, 107-97, in the PBA Philippine Cup Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Dyip found themselves down 31 points, 65-34, in the second quarter before going on a blistering rally in the third quarter where they outscored the Road Warriors, 36-17, to make it just an 85-78 game heading into the final frame.
Despite falling short, the rally alone showed head coach Johnedel Cardel that his team is ready to break out of its old identity.
“To be honest, during the first half I thought that we were going back to the old story,” said Cardel in Filipino of the franchise’s lackluster performances in seasons past.
“But I don’t want my players giving up so I told them we have 24 minutes to go so they should just bring the lead down. Just play within the system, show patience, be tough, and we eventually cut that lead down so even though we lost today it wasn’t that heavy of a feeling.”
The Dyip were still clawing at the lead in the fourth getting it to as low as five, 91-86, after CJ Perez’s layup with 8:23 to play.
NLEX responded with a 9-2 run capped off by a Philip Paniamogan 3-pointer for a 100-88 Road Warriors lead with 4:05 left that basically stopped the Dyip’s rally.
Cardel said that his team can still be better in the following games and he hopes they can string up more wins in the remaining seven matches.
“I told the guys that we still have more games to come and that every PBA team is very strong, no team is weak,” said Cardel, whose team slipped to a 2-2 record. “Before, we’re the only ones who were weak but now we’ve gotten competitive. We have to be tough, every game is important especially for a team like ours.”