L-Jay Gonzales knocked down arguably the most memorable shot of his young career to lift NLEX past Meralco in an overtime classic, 104-101, for their fourth straight win in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup on Friday night.

The rookie guard out of FEU made sure not to waste Robert Bolick’s bailout pass, bravely pulling the trigger from downtown to beat the final buzzer and complete the Road Warriors’ fightback from down 89-81 late in regulation.

Gonzales finished with 15 points as his game-winner not only rocked the Ynares Center II in Montalban, but, more significantly, enabled the Road Warriors to capture solo second with a 6-1 record, sitting just behind the 7-0 Rain or Shine.

That shot, furthermore, helped NLEX overcome the ejection of head coach Jong Uichico for initiating contact with an official with 2:12 left in the second period, leaving the coaching duties to Borgie Hermida and the other deputies.

(C) PBA images

“The play was to disguise, because we’ve been running the last six, seven plays for the last five minutes. So, I thought of drawing another one to disguise, and eventually, it opened up L-Jay. Luckily, he hit it,” Hermida explained.

Cady Lalanne top-scored for the Road Warriors with monster numbers of 34 points and 25 rebounds plus three assists and three blocks, doing all that despite being hounded by foul trouble that saw him get called for five.

Deschon Winston made 21 points and five rebounds, while Robert Bolick added 11 points and eight assists as these three forced the extra five minutes.

NLEX actually stared at an 81-68 deficit early in the fourth, but Winston knocked down a four-pointer, then came Lalanne with a triple to lay the groundwork for a stirring 21-8 assault to even things out and push the game to another period.

The said run was capped by no less than their closer in Bolick, nailing a tough stepback triple to make it an 89-all deadlock with 27.8 seconds to go.

(C) PBA images

The opposition went to Chris Newsome yet again for the final play, but the star guard deferred to Marvin Jones for the final shot, given the defense. The do-it-all import, however, missed his shot from long distance as time expired.

Meralco appeared to be sending the game into another OT when Jason Brickman tied the game at 101-all with 12.3 seconds left, but then came the magic play between Bolick and the young playmaker for the win.

“Sobrang nagpapasalamat ako sa kanila; sobrang laking tiwala nila sa akin,” expressed Gonzales. “Yung mga ganoong bagay siguro, kailangan ko rin pagtrabahuhan. Hindi naman basta-basta na ibibigay nila sa akin ‘yun.”

The victory shall give NLEX an added morale boost when they take on San Miguel Beer this Sunday, April 19, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

“It’s a big win for us, especially since we’re going up against San Miguel,” Hermida said. “So kailangan mataas ang kumpiyansa namin pagdating sa Sunday.”

Jones, on the other hand, led Meralco with 25 points and 13 rebounds in the loss that snapped their three-game winning streak, thus dropping to 5-2.

Newsome made 19 points and six rebounds. Former Road Warrior Javee Mocon had 17 points and seven rebounds in an apparently inspired performance against his ex-team, while CJ Cansino supplied 14.

Brickman finished with 13 points for the Bolts, who are now at solo third and will head into a lengthy break before facing the Beermen on April 28.

The Scores:

NLEX 104 – Lalanne 34, Winston 21, Gonzales 15, Bolick 11, Bahio 9, Rodger 7, Semerad 5, Alas 2, Racal 0, Herndon 0, Fajardo 0.

Meralco 101 – Jones 25, Newsome 19, Mocon 17, Cansino 14, Brickman 13, Quinto 7, Banchero 6, Hodge 0, Black 0, Almazan 0, Pascual 0, Rios 0.

Quarterscores: 14-19, 35-45, 64-76, 89-89, 104-101.

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ANTIPOLO — It proved to be so short a stint with Titan Ultra, but Calvin Abueva does not harbor any ill feelings whatsoever toward the neophyte PBA franchise.

In fact, he remains friends with his ex-teammates to this day, which was evident when Converge faced the Giant Risers in Wednesday’s Commissioner’s Cup tiff.

“Oo, close naman talaga kahit one [conference] lang ‘yung napagsamahan,” he said shortly after their 103-82 victory to stop a five-game-losing skid at the Ynares Center here.

“Siyempre, ‘di naman iba rin ‘yung mga tropa roon.”

It’s no secret that Abueva and Titan Ultra had a falling-out of sorts after their maiden conference together that was the Season 50 Philippine Cup, with the ‘Beast’ himself expressing his discontent through his social media pages.

That led to his trade to the FiberXers last February, marking the end of his stay with the Pureblends-owned team where he actually enjoyed a career revival, as proven by a BPC candidacy in the season-opening tournament.

It’s been two months already since both camps opted to part ways, but they crossed paths anew on Wednesday when the two teams met in this city.

Still, there was a mutual respect between the present-day Giant Risers and the one-time champion, who towed the club to its first PBA win in this venue–a 100-96 decision against Meralco last October 8 where he dropped 41 big points.

But it was business as usual for them once the ball tipped off, and Abueva himself would go on to deliver 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting on top of five rebounds and a steal in 16 minutes off the bench–all without a turnover.

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“Business eh. Kapag trabaho, trabaho. Sa court tatrabahuhin mo. Pero sa labas, magkakaibigan,” said the 14-year vet out of San Sebastian.

“”Pag nakipag-away ka diyan sa court, may fine tayo kay Kume. Ayoko na,” he added in jest, drawing chuckles from members of the media in the presser.

It was indeed a far better showing as compared to his Converge debut in a loss to current leaders Rain or Shine last week, where he only had five points.

“Tinrabaho ko ‘yung three days na ‘yun, bago ‘tong game na ‘to. And ang resulta, mas um-OK, mas gumaan, at mas naging agresibo ako,” he said.

There was, however, no personal vendetta for Abueva in going up against his ex-team, with his focus set not just on himself but on building better chemistry with a FiberXers team that’s become rich in Kapampangan talent.

“Siyempre, manyaman, sabi nga sa Kapampangan,” he said. “Maganda ‘yung ginawa namin. ‘Yung mga Kapampangan, makikita niyo naman kami ‘yung nakapagpaangat dahil doon sa press namin na ginawa.

“‘Yung spiritual na paglalaro namin as five doon sa loob, kakaiba ‘yung experience namin. Kapampangan eh,” he added.

“Hindi lang naman kami, ang team talaga ang pagbabasehan ng lahat ng mga pinaghirapan naming panalo.”

Now, Abueva is just hoping that Wednesday’s triumph would be the start of something for the rest of Converge, as they’ve finally remembered how to win.

“Sabi nga ni Coach, baguhan pa ‘yung team, hindi pa naaayos ‘yung gusot. Hindi pa nalalabhan, at hindi pa napaplantsa,” he said.

“Sana itong second win, dito na kami magtuloy-tuloy,” Abueva added. “Naputol na ‘yung losing streak namin, sana naman ‘to, winning streak naman.”

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ANTIPOLO — Gian Mamuyac seized the chance to take command in one of Rain or Shine’s timeouts in their eventual win over Terrafirma, Wednesday.

The Elasto Painters’ captain was shown on the broadcast sitting on the same stool that head coach Yeng Guiao sits at during huddles, with the tactical board in hand as he was mapping out a play while all of his teammates willingly listened.

It happened during the fourth quarter, and according to him, he was simply advising his squad about a certain adjustment being made by their foes.

“Sakto kasi, maaga natapos si Coach Yeng mag-explain,” related ‘Mamu’ moments after their 124-117 victory at the Ynares Center here to stretch their unbeaten run to seven in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup.

“Nagkaroon ng opportunity; mahaba pa ‘yung timeout, eh. And may nakita ako sa defense na ginagawa ng Terrafirma,” added the Ateneo de Manila product, “so, ‘yun lang, sinubukan ko lang sabihin sa teammates ko.”

It sure was a sight to behold as it only spoke further of how much the team trusts and respects one another, something that Mamuyac is proud of.

“Ayun naman maganda sa team namin, lahat may boses,” the 27-year-old winger said. “Lahat may leeway na sabihin kung ano yung nakikita nila.

“Tulong-tulong din naman ang basketball, eh. Ayun. Nagkataon lang na ako yung nakakita nung adjustment na ‘yun, and ‘yun, mabuti na lang nakapag-adjust naman kami.”

Playing as a cohesive unit has truly been the bread-and-butter for easily one of the PBA’s most exciting teams today, and their conquest of the Dyip shall be another solid proof, as all but one of the 16 players scored at least two.

Mamuyac himself contributed nicely in the balanced attack with 11 points off the bench, which he laced with four assists and three of the team’s 14 steals.

They also finished with 31 assists, which enabled the crew to shoot so well, especially from deep, as they finished with a total of 23 triples, setting a new franchise record and tying the PBA mark for most threes in a single game.

“We’re staying to our system,” offered Mamuyac about their success in this midseason conference thus far. “Palagi naming binibilisan ‘yung bola, ‘yung ball movement namin, and talagang tulong-tulong namin ginagawa.

“Hindi kami nagre-rely sa individual personnel,” the former fifth overall pick added. “Tulong-tulong kami, balanced scoring kami. Iikot at iikot yung bola, kung makikita niyo iba iba halos ang nagpe-Player of the Game.”

“Ganun lang din talaga ‘yung kagandahan ng system namin and hopefully magtuloy-tuloy. Lahat lang nag-buy in sa system.”

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