Banking on their depth and athleticism, the Road Warriors bucked a slow start to outclass Freego Jeans, 89-75, Tuesday and bag a second straight championship in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup at the FilOil-Flying V Arena.
With a virtual amateur all-star lineup, NLEX this time leaned on Chris Ellis in a second-half turnaround where he poured in all but five of his team-high 20 points.
Calvin Abueva also shone for the Road Warriors with a typical double-double outing of 17 points and 12 rebounds.
“I’m not denying that we have a strong team, individually and talent-wise,” said coach Boyet Fernandez after the Road Warriors swept the Jeans Makers, 2-0, in the best-of-three title series.
“But it’s also hard to handle a team with all stars. It wasn’t easy to win.”
Cliff Hodge also turned in big numbers, collecting 15 points, 17 rebounds and posting six of the Road Warriors’ eight blocks.
Relentless even when they were up by 12 points, 81-69, the Road Warriors swatted three Freego attempts in one sequence, time down to four minutes.
Freego Jeans coach Leo Austria admitted how tough it was going up against the league’s top seed.
“It’s hard to make a game plan when you don’t know who to attack,” said Austria. “We made big adjustments, but it’s just hard to match their firepower. You have several MVPs and members of the national team in their lineup.”
The Road Warriors took Game 1 in a 75-51 blowout.
The Jeans Makers came out on fire with Eric Camson nailing all but one of his attempts from the field for 13 points right in the first quarter. Alex Nuyles then took charge for Freego, burying 10 points in a 17-4 spurt capped by a rare four-point play by Lester Alvarez.
The run gave the Jeans Makers their biggest lead of nine points, 43-34, and helped them stay on top, 45-41, at the half.
Fernandez said, however, that the Road Warriors made quick defensive adjustments at the break, noting how he placed Hodge up against Camson by the second half.
The scores:
NLEX 89—Ellis 20, Abueva 17, Hodge 15, Lanete 9, Monfort 8, Sangalang 6, Garcia 6, Dehesa 3, Co 3, Marcelo 2, Hermida 0, Belencion 0.
FREEGO JEANS 75—Camson 24, Alvarez 15, Lopez 14, Nuyles 12, Apinan 5, Brondial 2, Cabrera 2, Austria 1, Lozada 0, Manyara 0.
Quarters: 18-22, 41-45, 65-58, 89-75