NLEX pulls epic win in Dubai

MANILA, Philippines — NLEX dished out its own version of the never-say-die spirit and pulled off a 113-111 come-from-behind overtime shocker over Barangay Ginebra to go 4-1 in the PBA Governors’ Cup Saturday night at the Coca-Cola Stadium in Dubai.

Jericho Cruz fired the marginal trey as the Road Warriors completed their fightback from 28 points down and overcame the absence of import Olu Ashaolu in the extra period after fouling out late in regulation play.

“We got lucky. But you get lucky when you work hard, when you don’t give up,” said NLEX coach Yeng Guiao, whose wards bounced back from their 94-98 defeat to San Miguel Beer the night before.

“I think we were behind by 28 points, then we lost our import before overtime. It’s one of those games you’ll remember for a long time,” added the Road Warriors mentor.

Ashaolu delivered 25 markers, seven rebounds and three assists in his abbreviated 38-minute stint while Poy Erram added 21 and Philip Paniamogan netted 20 highlighted by six triples. Cruz shot 13, making five of them in OT, while Kiefer Ravena made the same output, including the extension-forcing triple, while dishing out a whopping 17 assists.

NLEX spoiled the monster performance of Ginebre reinforcement Justin Brownlee, who posted 42 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists.

The Gin Kings were initially dominating play and held a 69-41 margin on a Stanley Pringle trey in the third. But the no-quit Road Warriors patiently chopped on the Ginebra upperhand until they caught up at 100-all and at 103-103.

The crowd favorites grabbed a 111-107 lead in overtime but NLEX bravely fought back again.

Over at the Big Dome last night, Meralco and Magnolia both scored a third win in four starts.

With its starting unit leading a well-coordinated assault, Meralco racked up back-to-back wins with a 111-94 rout of Phoenix Pulse while Magnolia survived a late scare before finishing off Alaska, 95-90.

Picking up from where he left off last game, Baser Amer rifled in four triples in a 26-point performance while Chris Newsome submitted a triple-double of 13-12-11 to complement the usual numbers of Allen Durham (27 and 12) in the Bolts’ third victory in four outings.

Starters Bong Quinto (14) and Raymond Almazan (14-12) did their share offensively as Meralco took a scoring-by-committee approach against the Fuel Masters, who fell to their second straight setback for 1-4 overall.

“Good team effort for the Meralco team tonight,” said coach Norman Black who took notice of their 27 assists.