Road Warriors dodge disaster

MANILA, Philippines — It was supposed to be a blowout with the way NLEX dropped bomb after bomb and dominated Terrafirma in the middle quarters.

But after leading by as many as 23 points and maintaining a 10-point cushion going to the last 4:15, a sputtering endgame nearly resulted in total disaster for NLEX.

Fortunately for coach Jimmy Alapag and his troops, Dyip import Justin Strings’ potential game-winner from beyond the arc missed the mark and Geo Chiu couldn’t launch a decent followup as the buzzer sounded.

Sighs of relief all over as the Road Warriors escaped, 101-100, to make it 2-0 in Group A of the PBA Governors’ Cup last night at Ynares Center-Montalban.

This close call was far less impressive compared to their comprehensive 114-75 rout of Macau two nights before but debuting mentor Alapag would gladly take this W.

“It shows we still have a lot of work to be done. I said it last game, ang layo pa,” said the former TNT and Gilas Pilipinas star, who took over the helm at NLEX only last week.

Later, Converge overpowered all-Filipino Titan, 105-74, for a fiery conference debut. The Giant Risers slipped to 0-2 with import James Milton still without FIBA clearance.