September 03, 2017

Fuller, Tiongson deliver as NLEX bolsters bid to finish in the Top 4

HISTORY is on NLEX's side, but coach Yeng Guiao wants to be sure.

That explains why Guiao is not banking on a 109-99 victory over GlobalPort Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum alone in his Road Warriors' bid to realize a coveted slot going to the PBA Governors Cup quarterfinals.

Aaron Fuller came up with another monster game, Juami Tiongson delivered a career game and NLEX caught a big break in notching a second straight victory and seventh in nine games overall.

That slate kept the Road Warriors at fourth-running spot but practically assured them of at least a tie for a top four slot that carries with it a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarters.

Actually, based on the last two conferences with the same format, seven wins are enough for a top four berth but Guiao wants at least another to be sure.

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"We have seven wins. I think we need eight to make it among the top four," offered Guiao. "We have hard games coming up against TNT and Star so pag may natsambahan kaming isa doon baka top four kami.

"We have a 10-day break. We'll use that recharging ourselves and at the same time manonood kami ng bakbakan ng iba bago kami naman ang makipag-bakbakan."

For sure, just to be in such a situation this deep in the eliminations is satisfying enough for an NLEX team that wound up 12th in each of its first two conferences under Guiao.

Even the seven-time champion coach was admittedly surprised.

"They just gelled well," said Guiao, who initiated some trades in the past two months that brought in veteran leadership to his relatively young crew.

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"The hard decisions we made... we were really preparing for next year. By bringing together veterans who could mentor our young guys and combining that with the early draft. Ang nasa isip ko baka next year kami mag-pick up. Pero maganda chemistry kaya napaaga."

GlobalPort was looking for a win that would have pushed it ahead of San Miguel Beer, shock 79-90 loser to Alaska last Saturday, and given it solo eighth-running spot.

Instead, the Batang Pier dropped to a 3-4 slate and just out of the top eight advancing to the next round despite Murphey Holloway notching 29 points, 17 rebounds and six assists.

Stanley Pringle, who scattered a career-high 30 points in a 119-112 win over TNT last Friday and averaging 20.8 points and 6.5 rebounds, could have helped. But he was attending to his sick father back in the US.


"Malaking s'werte, di nakapaglaro si Pringle," said Guiao. "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, 'ika nga."

After banking in a shot clock-beating heave from the backcourt to end the first period and netting 18 points at the half, Terrence Romeo could not get really going and finished with 24 points. Sean Anthony was the only other Batang Pier in double digits with 15.

Those were not enough to offset a more balanced NLEX attack led by Fuller's 33 points and 22 rebounds and Tiongson's 21 points. JR Quinahan chipped in 18, Kevin Alas 12 and Cyrus Baguio 10.

The Road Warriors actually led by as many as 18 points early, but got engaged in a nip-and-tuck battle by the Batang Pier for most of the second half.

Tiongson was there to stretch the difference, however, with four of his five triples for 14 points in the final canto, the last making it a 94-87 count.

For good measure, Tiongson added three of his four assists, the last resulting in a Quinahan three-point play that made it a very safe 105-95 count, only 2:05 left.