NLEX survived a spirited Barangay Ginebra comeback, 76-72, to punch a PBA quarterfinals berth at the end of the eliminations Sunday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Road Warriors lost a 13-point fourth quarter lead, but didn't have the win in the bag until Von Pessumal committed an inbounding violation with 3.3 seconds left and the Kings down by just two.
READ Ginebra, Magnolia end up in quarterfinal face-off after final losses
Richie Rodger then canned two free throws for the insurance basket as the Road Warriors finally ended a four-game skid.
The sixth seeded Road Warriors will now meet the no. 3 Meralco Bolts in a best-of-three quarterfinals series.
“After four consecutive losses, it’s nice to get a win again lalo na at sa Ginebra pa,” said NLEX coach Frankie Lim.
“But we could have handled our last five minutes a lot better. Sometimes we made bad decisions. I felt we could have made better shots. But just the same, our guys didn’t give up and held their own.”
Robert Bolick topscored for 25 points, six rebounds, and eight assists, while rookie Richie Rodger was the other NLEX player in double figures with 11.
But the Road Warriors had 13 three pointers – compared to the three by the Kings – including the last for the night courtesy of Bolick that gave the team its biggest lead at 71-58 with 7:43 left in the game.
The Kings then made their move and outscored the Road Warriors, 13-2, in the next six minutes to threaten at 72-73 on two free throws by Maverick Ahanmisi with 32 seconds left.
Baser Amer then split his charities to give NLEX a two-point lead before Ginebra coach Tim Cone called timeout for the team’s final play.
Christian Stanhardinger led Barangay Ginebra with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, but was taken out with still 7:08 remaining and NLEX holding a 12-point lead.
The scores:
NLEX (76) - Bolick 25, Rodger 11, Herndon 9, Miranda 8, Semerad 8, Amer 7, Anthony 4, Marcelo 4, Fajardo 0, Valdez 0, Taha 0.
Ginebra (72) - Standhardinger 19, J.Aguilar 15, Ahanmisi 14, Pringle 7, Cu 5, Thompson 4, Tenorio 2, Pessumal 2, Onwubere 2, David 0, Pinto 0, Murrell 0.
Quarterscores: 23-16; 35-32; 59-54; 76-72.
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