NLEX won its fourth straight game in dominating fashion, shocking Magnolia Chicken Timplados, 87-74, on Saturday in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Robert Bolick once again led the Road Warriors in scoring with 26 points while also contributing nine assists to send his team to solo second with a 5-1 win-loss record.
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The Hotshots suffered their second straight loss to fall to a 1-2 record. Magnolia never led in the game and trailed by as many as 24 points in the game.
Anthony Semerad also produced for NLEX with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
NLEX coach Frankie Lim played down the lopsided win, saying Magnolia missed a number of players including Calvin Abueva, who served out a one-game suspension for flashing a dirty finger in Sunday’s game against Barangay Ginebra.
“Our defense did well against their small guys,” said Lim. “I just felt that all the practices we had in the past week did as well tonight. Malaking bagay din ‘yung depleted ang line-up ng Magnolia. But my guys played well.”
NLEX was already in command, 26-12, at the end of the first quarter and opened margins as big as 71-47 early in the fourth.
Ian Sangalang had 13 points and 10 rebonds, while Russel Escoto added 13 points. Mark Barroca had 10 points, but the offense largely sputtered for the Hotshots.
The scores:
NLEX 87 – Bolick 26, Semerad 22, Herndon 9, Miranda 6, Nieto 6, Amer 6, Pascual 3, Nermal 2, Marcelo 1, Rodger 0, Anthony 0, Valdez 0.
Magnolia 74 – Sangalang 13, Escoto 13, Barroca 10, Laput 8, Jalalon 6, Corpuz 5, Lee 5, Mendoza 5, Ahanmisi 4, Eriobu 3, Tratter 2, Reavis 0, Murrell 0.
Quarters: 26-12; 37-27; 67-47; 87-74.
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