THERE would be no epic comeback for Alaska against NLEX this time.
KJ McDaniels and the rest of the NLEX Road Warriors made sure of that by holding off the Aces 106-89 yesterday to practically clinch a quarterfinals slot in the PBA Governors Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
McDaniels hooked up with Kevin Alas in giving NLEX the fine start that coach Yeng Guiao wanted before Jericho Cruz saved the Road Warriors from a sputtering finish that allowed the Aces to whittle what was once a 29-point 57-86 deficit to just 77-90.
According to league chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III, who based his assessment on the last six Governors Cup editions, six wins should be enough for one of the eight quarterfinals slots and NLEX has done that after improving its record to 6-3.
Guiao was totally aware of that fact. “We just wanted to win this game to assure ourselves of the quarterfinals. I think six wins gets you safely through so at least na-achieve namin ‘yung objective namin, makarating to the playoffs.”
The work is far from over, however, as NLEX winds up the eliminations s against Rain or Shine tomorrow, Friday, and Ginebra exactly a week after, hoping for more wins that would stoke its bid for a top four slot and a win-once advantage in the next round.
“Last two games we’ll see how far we can get in trying to preserve our incentive, which is to get to the top four,” said Guiao.
Alaska slipped to 5-3, its three-game winning streak snapped, with two of those victories coming after it was announced the conference would be the franchise’s last in the league it joined in 1986.
The Aces were coming off a 102-97 win over the Terrafirma Dyip, a game where they battled back from as many as 20 points down in the third quarter and went into the fourth period with a 17-point deficit.
Expectations of a similar occurrence surfaced when a crew made up mostly of second stringers pounced on a lethargic start to the fourth period by NLEX and brought Alaska back from a 61-88 count to within 13 points.
NLEX regrouped in time, however, with Kris Rosales draining a triple and Cruz booming in two of his own to effectively quash the threat as the Road Warriors’ lead got stretched to a safe 99-79, only 3:28 left.
McDaniels had 27 points and 11 rebounds, Cruz finished with 21 points and Alas supplied 19 points, four assists, three rebounds and no turnovers in more than 30 minutes of action.
Abu Tratter had 17 points and Olu Ashaolu 14 points and 12 rebounds to pace Alaska.
