NLEX Road Warriors’ Robert Bolick in the PBA Philippine Cup. –PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines–NLEX played with steely nerves down the stretch to turn back hard-fighting Meralco, 99-96, in a tight contest in the 2024 PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night.
The Road Warriors squandered a 12-point cushion and then cranked things up in the final minute behind ace Robert Bolick and Enoch Valdez to secure the victory that had the club rebounding from a sorry loss to Terrafirma last week.
“It’s a good thing we have Bolick. Imagine if he’s not here,” said head coach Frankie Lim who heaved a sigh of relief after the see-saw contest at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
SCHEDULE: 2024 PBA Philippine Cup
Bolick finished with 26 points, three points short of matching his first two outings to open the All-Filipino showcase. Valdez chipped in 12 more, including a key steal with 39 ticks remaining to give the Road Warriors some breathing room.
NLEX improved to 2-1 in the conference.
Meralco made a last-ditch effort to pull the rug from under its corporate sibling behind Allein Maliksi and Chris Newsome, pulling within 96-98 with 21 seconds left but ran out steam when it mattered most, thus dropping to 1-2 in the race.
READ: PBA: Robert Bolick thankful for teammates picking up his scoring slack
NLEX will try to get a streak going against Converge this Saturday.
The Bolts, meanwhile, seek a rebound when they take on 1-1 NorthPort on Sunday.