Ronald Pascual nailed a championship-clinching jumper with 0.8 seconds as the tournament favorite Road Warriors nailed the maiden PBA D-League title at the expense of the Cebuana Lhuillier Gems, 61-59, Thursday at the Yñares Sports Arena in Pasig.
“That shot was really made for him [Pascual],” said NLEX head mentor Boyet Fernandez, who last won a championship in 2008 with Sta. Lucia in the PBA.
Pascual, the flashy wingman, caught the inbound pass from Pamboy Raymundo then raised the long two which landed at the bottom of the net as the buzzer went off.
Pascual punched in 10 points while Calvin Abueva dominated with 18 points, 15 rebounds and two swats for the Road Warriors.
Raymundo, who played the longest with 37 minutes, finished with seven points, four boards and eight assists.
“I also credit Raymundo because he was already very tired when he set up Pascual,” said Fernandez as Raymundo took over most of the guard duties with the loss of Erik Salamat to an injury early in the first quarter.
But it was nothing like NLEX’s 76-62 rout of Cebuana Lhuiller in game one as it had to buck blistering runs by the Gems even until the final second of this match.
The Gems’ combo guard Kevin Alas evened the game at 59 after going coast-to-coast for an off-balanced scoop shot, before the Road Warriors called a time-out to set up Pascual for the last shot.
Alas, who went scoreless in the last game, also sparked the third quarter run that brought Cebuana back in the game.
Determined to flip the script and force a rubber match, the Gems rallied from 13 points down as seldom-used Hyram Bagatsing gave them a brief two point lead, 45-43, before the quarter ended.
“It was a gutsy performance by the Gems,” added Fernandez.
The match was then reduced to a stale affair in the payoff period with no team leading by more than two points.
When both squads started connecting, Bagatsing answered Raymundo’s triple that gave NLEX a four-point lead with one of his own to inch the Gems within 57-58.
But it was NLEX who got the crucial stop down the stretch even as Raymundo was called for a travelling violation with 30 seconds.
Ogie Menor secured the rebound with 6.6 ticks remaining and split his charities on the other end.
Allein Maliski, the most valuable player of the tournament, did not have a his usual contribution for the Gems and scored only two points in the fourth to finish with eight.
Bagatsing and Hayes were the only Gems’ who scored in double digits with 13 and 10, respectively.
The scores:
NLEX 61 – Abueva 18, Pascual 10, Ellis 9, Hodge 7, Raymundo 7, Menor 6, Sangalang 2, Dehesa 2, Salamat 0, Taganas 0, Co 0.
CEBUANA 59 – Bagatsing 13, Hayes 10, Alas 9, Maliksi 8, Mandani 5, Sena 4, Mepana 4, Fernandez 2, Canta 2, Semira 2, Elinon 0, Llagas 0, Nabong 0.
Quarters: 13-8; 34-28; 45-45; 61-59