Bolick goes berserk in 4th as Road Warriors overtake Bolts

MANILA, Philippines -- The NLEX Road Warriors pulled out all the stops and held on to a thrilling 99-96 victory over the Meralco Bolts in the PBA Philippine Cup Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

With NLEX trailing by eight, 64-72, at the end of the third quarter, Robert Bolick took over and scored 16 points in the final quarter to tow the Road Warriors to the victory.

Meralco led by as much as 10, 85-75, following a technical free throw by Chris Newsome.

Bolick then turned things up a notch and single-handedly cut the lead to just two, 85-87, with a 3-pointer at the 5:09 mark of the quarter.

A layup by Cliff Hodge pushed the lead to four anew, 89-85, but Bolick answered with a deuce of his own.

A Robbie Herndon trey with 2:48 to go gave the Road Warriors the one-point lead, 90-89, which was taken back by a Bong Quinto jumper, 91-90.

And with a minute remaining, Bolick made two free throws. On the other end, rookie Enoch Valdez secured a huge steal and a pulled off a transition layup that was chased down by Newsome and was declared a goaltend to give NLEX a 94-91 advantage with 39 seconds remaining.

Free throws by Bolick and Anthony Semerad put the Road Warriors ahead 98-91.

In the next possession, Newsome was fouled while shooting a three. He made the first two, then missed the third, with the ball going to Allein Maliksi, who drained it from beyond the line to cutting the NLEX lead to two, 96-98, with 21 ticks left.

Valdez was then fouled and split his freebies. The two teams traded steals, which ultimately gave Newsome a clean look to tie the game at 99. But his shot clanked off the rim, securing NLEX’s second win in the conference.

Bolick finished the game with 26 points, eight rebounds and four assists for NLEX.

Valdez had 12 points, six rebounds, three steals and a block in a starting role.

Newsome led the Bolts with 22 points.

It was a game of runs, as NLEX led by as much as 12 points, 51-39, in the first half.

In the third quarter, however, Meralco flipped the script and outscored the Road Warriors, 29-13, to take the 72-64 lead.

Meralco will be facing the NorthPort Batang Pier next on Sunday at 3 p.m.
NLEX, meanwhile, will take on the Converge FiberXers on Saturday.

Both games will be played at the Big Dome.