BOTH NLEX and coach Yeng Guiao are excited to be re-united once more.
Solid proof is the way in which the Road Warriors welcomed their coach back with a 124-106 beatdown of erstwhile unbeaten Blackwater Wednesday in the PBA Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Aaron Fuller had 24 points and 20 rebounds and Larry Fonacier also had 24 markers anchored on six triples as the Road Warriors sustained their attack from the first quarter on to lead by as much as 84-60 in the third period.
When the Elite threatened to make a close game of it by pulling to within 92-101, Fonacier and Fuller spearheaded a fiery 23-14 exchange over the last five minutes to complete the rout.
The win jacked NLEX's record to 4-2 and Guiao was understandably pleased with that, more than stopping Blackwater's unbeaten start at four.
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"This (Blackwater) team is really for real, so we made sure we were prepared for this game," said Guiao, adding their ploy to have Elite import Henry Walker have his way but limit his teammates worked.
"The plan really was to sacrifice Walker scoring more than his average," explained Guiao. "The keys to winning for Blackwater was for the locals combining with Walker in offense, for them to have four to five guys in double figures.
"So we figured we have to pick our poison. It was decided that Walker can go one-on-one but prevent him from setting up his teammates for the three-point shot. So basically the defensive scheme worked for us."
Helping that along was the fact Walker himself struggled from the field, netting only 16 points, on 6-of-17 field shooting. He did have 13 rebounds and seven assists.
Roi Sumang topscored with a personal season-high 24 points, but only Paul Zamar (16 points) and John Pinto (15) were the only other Blackwater players in double figures.
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Also, most of the points of Zamar and Pinto came when NLEX's win was ensured.
Sorely missed by the lite was the absence of starting center JP Erram, who has been hospitalized due to a viral infection.
Kenneth Ighalo's 18 points was the only other double digit scoring for NLEX, but Philip Paniamogan, Michael Miranda and JR Quinahan came close.
Cyrus Baguio, Juami Tiongson, Bong Galanza and even Emman Monfort also had at least a triple each as the Road Warriors made 20 of 44 shots from beyond the arc compared to the Elite's 7-of-27 clip.
Even Fuller got into the act, draining two back-to-back treys inside the last 32 seconds.
Not bad at all for a team which is coming off a long break since losing to San Miguel Beer 113-125 last Sept. 1.
"Offensively, we were excited to play after the long break. For me, myself, I'm excited to coach just to get the feel of the PBA again," admitted Guiao, who took leave of the squad after being named to coach the national teams in both the recent Asian Games and the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
"Sabi nga, marami kang matutunan (in those tournaments)," added Guiao. "We applied what we've learned. We tried a few experiments and they seemed to work."
That readily became apparent right in the second quarter as triples by Quinahan and Monfort helped stretch NLEX's lead to 55-45, before a scorching 19-6 surge, spiked by five long distance bombs, gave it that 24-point cushion. (NC)
The scores:
NLEX 124 - Fonacier 24, Fuller 24, Ighalo 18, Miranda 9, Paniamogan 9, Galanza 8, Quinahan 8, Tiongson 6, Baguio 6, Soyud 4, Rios 4, Monfort 3, Taulava 1, Tallo 0.
Blackwater 106 - Sumang 24, Walker 16, Zamar 16, Pinto 15, Al-Hussaini 7, Sena 6, Jose 6, Maliksi 5, Digregorio 5, Belo 4, Palma 2, Javier 0.
Quarters: 24-19, 55-45, 90-75, 124-106.
