NLEX shut the door on San Miguel’s quarterfinal bid and clinched at least a playoff for the No. 8 spot after a 94-76 rout of Eastern on Wednesday in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Road Warriors closed the eliminations with a 6-6 win-loss record to move a step closer to advancing to the next phase, in the process keeping the idle Beermen out of the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
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NLEX can gain an outright quarterfinal seat with a Magnolia defeat against Meralco on Friday in the final day of the eliminations.
Ironically, NLEX coach Jong Uichico helped oust a San Miguel squad that he guided to six PBA championships.
Eastern fell to 7-5 after ending its elims campaign with back-to-back losses.
Mike Watkins finished with 41 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocks for the Road Warriors, as Robert Bolick added 21 points, five rebounds, and eight assists before leaving in the third period after rolling his ankle.
Javee Mocon and Jonnel Policarpio each had nine points to also contribute for the Road Warriors, who led by as many as 19 points after being down, 23-18, at the end of the first quarter.
“In the first half, I didn’t like the way they were playing. There’s no energy. But they were able to pick it up in the second half, which is a good sign that they were able to recover from that slow start,” said Uichico.
Chris McLaughlin had 18 points and 17 rebounds, while Hayden Blankley and Glen Yang had 14 and 12 markers, respectively, for Eastern.
The scores:
NLEX 94 – Watkins 41, Bolick 21, Mocon 9, Policarpio 9, Herndon 6, Torres 5, Ramirez 3, Semerad 0, Alas 0.
Eastern 76 – McLaughlin 18, Blankley 14, Yang 12, Lam 11, Cheung 5, Cao 5, Chan 4, Guinchard 3, Leung 2, Pok 2.
Quarters: 18-23; 43-42; 65-57; 94-76.
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