ANTIPOLO CITY - NLEX proved it can win even without its fiery mentor around as the Road Warriors scored a stunning 103-90 rout of TnT Katropa Friday night in the main game of the PBA Governors Cup at the Ynares Center here.
The Road Warriors leaned on the valiant play of hurting import Olu Ashaolu and the inspired plays of new acquisitions Mark Jayven Tallo, Bong Galanza, and Philip Paniamogan to give acting coach Jojo Lastimosa his first win in the absence of head coach Yeng Guiao.
Ashaolu posted numbers of 33 points and 23 rebounds to outplay TnT counterpart Mike Glover despite playing with a patela tendon tear, while the trio of Tallo, Paniamogan, and Galanza combined for 36 points in the game which the Road Warriors dominated right from the get-go.
Lastimosa had some good words for Tallo and Co., but reserved his biggest compliment to the 30-year-old Ashaolu, who is set for replacement owing to the injury he suffered during a tune-up game against Meralco two weeks ago.
"You can see he was all-out tonight with half a leg not functioning," he said of the import. "So you can see that he really wanted to win the game for the players."
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At the same time, Lastimosa admitted Guiao, who is with NLEX veteran center Asi Taulava in Indonesia for the Jakarta Palembang Asian Games, admitted calling him an hour before game time.
"He said even if I'm not there, I hope you guys will still be able to compete," Lastimosa said of what Guiao told him prior to the match.
Compete the Road Warriors did.
NLEX didn't give TnT Katropa any room to get its rhythm going and led by as many as 102-85.
The Road Warriors also got 14 points for the returning Larry Fonacier, who missed half of the team's elimination round schedule in the Commissioner's Cup after suffering a broken rib and a collapsed lung.
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TnT Katropa was led by the 27 points of Terrence Romeo, while Jayson Castro and Roger Pogoy added 15 and 13, respectively.
But import Mike Glover was rather a disappointment as he finished with just 11 points and 15 rebounds in his return stint to the league since playing for Globalport two years ago.
"Siyempre you expect more," was the curt reply of coach Nash Racela when asked about Glover's performance.(RG)
The scores:
NLEX 103 - Ashaolu 33, Tallo 16, Fonacier 14, Paniamogan 11, Galanza 9, Quinahan 5, Tiongson 5, Mallari 5, Baguio 3, Miranda 2, Marcelo 0,
TNT 90 - Romeo 27, Castro 13, Pogoy 13, Glover 11, Semerad 10, Rosario 5, Williams 4, Garcia 3, Tamsi 2, Golla 0, Carey 0.
Quarters: 23-17, 54-45, 78-74, 103-90.
