HENRY Walker scored five of his game-high 39 points in crunch time to help NLEX carve a hard-earned 82-81 squeaker over Mahindra for its second straight triumph in the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Down by eight with under five minutes left, the Road Warriors fought their way back and ended the contest emphatically with an 11-2 finishing kick to snatch the game away from the Enforcers, who had another meltdown for the second straight game.
The burly Walker, who nailed seven triples and also had 13 rebounds, capped off the pivotal run by scoring NLEX’s last five markers. His go-ahead triple with 3:15 left gave the Road Warriors the lead, 80-79, and his jumper at the two-minute mark stretched his team’s edge to 82-79.
Those baskets proved to be the margin that NLEX needed to come through.
The Road Warriors now have an even slate with their 3-3 card, while the erstwhile co-league leading Enforcers slipped to 4-2 after this second straight setback following a 4-0 start.
“I credit this win to our defense. We made three good stops in the final three minutes,” said NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez. “I hope this win will help us in our back-to-back games ahead against Meralco and Phoenix.”
James White trimmed Mahindra’s deficit to just one, 81-82, after hitting two free throws with 1:40 remaining.
Unfortunately for the Enforcers, that proved to be the last points of the game as both teams failed to score in the final minute.
With ball in hand with 11 seconds, Mahindra still had a chance to take the game, but White fumbled the ball and Kevin Alas took it from him, securing victory for NLEX in the process.
Alas added 13 points for NLEX.
Nino Canaleta scored a team-high 23 points for Mahindra while White scored 21 in a losing effort.
NLEX got off to a hot start, establishing a double-digit lead right away, 18-8, just six minutes into the game.
The scoring slowed down after that initial salvo of the Road Warriors and the Enforcers found themselves back in it and tied the game at 24-all at the seven-minute mark of the second after a 16-6 counter spurt of their own.
It was a low-scoring first half with NLEX regaining some edge, 36-30, at the turn.
At the end of the third, Mahindra once again tightened the gap, slicing its deficit to just a single point, 60-59, to put the game in the balance heading the final quarter and set-up the tight finish.
The scores:
NLEX 82—Walker 39, Alas 13, Villanueva J. 9, Taulava 8, Khobuntin 4, Villanueva E. 4, Baracael 3, Anthony 2, Akl 0, Forrester 0, Monfort 0, Soyud 0.
MAHINDRA 81—Canaleta 23, White 21, Digregorio 11, Pinto 7, Elorde 5, Taha 4, Jaime 3, Ramos 3, Aguilar 2, Yee 2, Ballesteros 0, Guinto 0, Agovida 0, Webb 0.
Quarters: 24-17, 36-30, 60-59, 82-81
Games Friday
(Ynares Center, Antipolo City)
4:15 p.m. – TNT Katropa vs. Phoenix Petroleum
7 p.m. – GlobalPort vs. San Miguel