MANILA, Philippines — NLEX rolled again on observe with a 105-95 win over Phoenix and unwittingly impacted the fates of its sufferer and three others within the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs chase.
By scoring this pullaround from their earlier 92-108 loss to Meralco, the Street Warriors grabbed solo second within the standings at 7-2 and boosted their drive for the coveted Prime 4 within the quarterfinals.
Consequential to this, they shut the door on ninth-running Gas Masters (2-7), who may not meet up with squads contained in the Final-8 cutoff line, whereas giving TNT (5-3), Rain or Shine (5-3) and Barangay Ginebra their tickets to the following spherical with video games to spare.
Javee Mocon, in his first Finest Participant of the Sport-winning efficiency since his days with Rain or Shine, shot 23 and hauled down 9 rebounds in an prolonged 35-minute stint to steer NLEX.
He fashioned a 1-2 punch with ace gunner Robert Bolick, who produced a complete 20-point, eight-rebound, seven-assist statline in an error-free outing over 39 minutes.
JB Bahio (15), Tony Semerad (14) and Xyrus Torres (13) offered adequate help for the duo.
Coach Jong Uichico lauded the 9 “wholesome” guys within the injury-hit lineup for rising to the event.
“I respect the hassle that the gamers introduced out right this moment. Maski na additional minutes sila naglaro, they nonetheless gave their utmost effort,” mentioned Uichico.
“Maski na medyo offensively, issues weren’t falling our manner and Phoenix was additionally scoring and out-rebounding us, tuloy-tuloy pa rin ‘yung trabaho nila.”
NLEX laid to waste the 28-point explosion of Jason Perkins because the Street Warriors despatched the Gas Masters to the exits alongside Blackwater (1-7), NorthPort (1-7) and Terrafirma (1-8) with two matches left of their elims slate.
And with the quarterfinal solid now full, the Street Warriors concentrate on incomes one of many 4 win-once bonuses.
Later, Barangay Ginebra worn out a nine-point deficit with a 26-13 closing barrage to show again “Manila Clasico rival Magnolia, 85-81, and achieve solo fourth at 6-3. The Hotshots fell to 7-2 in a tie for No. 1 with NLEX.