NLEX survived a furious Converge rally to escape with a 112-104 victory on Friday in the PBA On Tour at the Ynares Sports Arena.
Don Trollano sparked a 17-4 run early in the fourth to give the Road Warriors a 14-point buffer that was enough to cushion a late comeback by the FiberXers.
Trollano finished with a game-high 26 points for NLEX, which welcomed Tony Semerad for the first time in the preseason.
NLEX guard Kevin Alas added 25 points in the win that improved the Road Warriors' record to 4-5.
“You cannot be complacent kapag malaki ang lamang mo,” said NLEX coach Frankie Lim, lamenting how his team lost a 108-94 lead with 5:04 to play as Converge threatened at 108-104 on a Mike Nieto basket inside the final two minutes.
“That can’t happen.”
Trollano added nine rebounds and five assists for the Road Warriors, who also got 23 points, seven rebounds, and six assists from Sean Anthony. He was a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range.
The loss snapped a two-game winning run by Converge, which evened its record at 5-5.
But the FiberXers gave the Road Warriors a big scare coming home behind the hot hands of rookie hopeful Jolo Mendoza.
The shooting guard out of Ateneo hit back-to-back three pointers to spearhead a 10-0 blast that put the team to within four.
It proved to be the last hurrah of Converge though, as Ben Adamos and Anthony hit consecutive baskets to make it an eight-point spread for NLEX with 57 seconds left to play.
Mendoza went 7-of-14 from beyond the arc to finish with 23 points in leading Converge. Nieto added 19, while Kevin Racal had a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds.
The scores:
NLEX (112) – Trollano 26, Alas 25, Anthony 23, Semerad 16, Doliguez 8, Paniamogan 6, Adamos 5, Nieto 3, Pascual 0, Guissani 0.
Converge (104) – Mendoza 23, Nieto 19, Racal 18, Stockton 10, Arana 10, Ambohot 7, Luib 5, Guinto 5, Zaldivar 3, Wong 2, Teng 2.
Quarterscores: 26-15; 56-45; 84-80; 112-104.
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