PBA: Kevin Alas comes to the rescue for injury-plagued NLEX

NLEX Road Warriors’ Kevin Alas. –PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—When NLEX caught trouble against Converge in the fourth quarter, Kevin Alas answered the call to halt the Road Warriors’ two-game losing streak.

Alas, who has been averaging close to 18 points per game, made two timely baskets to lift the Road Warriors over the red-hot FiberXers, 116-112, in the PBA Governors’ Cup tournament. 

The NLEX star finished with a conference-high 31 points including a clutch triple in the 38-second mark of the payoff period to put his squad up by four over Converge, 113-109.

It was a timely outburst for the Road Warriors, said coach Frankie Lim, especially since his lineup was depleted due to injuries.

“They showed a different level of effort today and thankfully, we have a Kevin Alas. It’s a big thing to lose my players because of injuries because even my rotation gets destroyed,” told Lim in Filipino at Araneta Coliseum on Saturday.

Lim had to enforce a 10-man rotation with key players Sean Anthony and Matt Nieto out due to unspecified injuries.

To make matters worse for the now 5-2 troop, most players were caught in foul trouble as early as the first half. The win, however, was still achieved due to the coaching staff’s system, said Alas.

“In the first half, Jake (Pascual) had four fouls and so did Brandon (Ganuelas-Rosser). Me, I even had three but I give credit to the system of coach (Frankie) and at the same time, credit to the players he used like Clint (Doliguez), they really stepped up.”

“Everyone stepped up today and of course, it’s Wayne’s (Selden) first win so at the same time, we were motivated to get him this win,” he added.

The Road Warriors had trouble staying pace with Converge as they tallied 34 team fouls to give Converge a whopping number of 47 free throw attempts. The Aldin Ayo-led squad made 38 of them.

NLEX Road Warriors’ Clint Doliguez. –PBA IMAGES

With a shortage of players coming in at such a crucial point in the second half, Lim was forced to give more minutes to Doliguez. The swingman may have struggled in the field but his defense earned Alas and Lim’s nods after the victory.

Finishing with only three points on a lowly 1-for-6 shooting night, the San Beda product poured in four rebounds, two assists and two steals on the defensive end to frustrate the FiberXers on offense.

Selden, on the other hand, kept up his high-scoring with 35 markers to go along with an all-around effort of eight steals, seven boards, six dimes and three blocks. 

“Doliguez played well plus Wayne almost didn’t have any rest. I felt bad about it because he was already limping but I just told him ‘finish the game,’ and he did. It’s [win] really just us making good decisions down the stretch plus baskets made by Kevin and Anthony Semerad,” concluded top coach Lim.

Both squads are now in a tug-of-war for the third seed with twin records of five wins and two losses. NLEX looks to mount a winning streak when they face Meralco at Philsports Arena on Thursday.