Road Warriors demolish Chargers, near sweep

MANILA, Philippines - NLEX used one big scoring run in the opening period and the Road Warriors rolled past the Big Chill Super Chargers, 86-71, yesterday to move closer to completing a sweep of the PBA D-League Foundation Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

The Road Warriors shut down the Super Chargers’ gunners in early going while scoring almost at will to build a big 25-8 lead they never relinquished to post the runaway victory.

It was NLEX’s 12th straight win, counting its sweep of the elims and the semifinals with the Road Warriors fancied to complete their domination of the Super Chargers in Game Two of the best-of-three finals tomorrow at the San Juan Arena.

The Road Warriors are shooting for their third straight championship in as many tournaments in the fledgling league serving as the farm league of the PBA.

Calvin Abueva came off the bench to fire 16 points while Ian Sangalang tallied 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting and RR Garcia and Jake Pascual added 12 and 11 markers, respectively, for NLEX, which shot 51 percent.

Big Chill struggled with 39 percent shooting.

“Our defense was spectacular. The guys executed our game plan to the letter. But we have not accomplished anything yet. We still have to win one more game,” said NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez.

What many thought would be an interesting match-up turned out to be a mismatch with NLEX simply stamping its class in practically all departments.

The Super chargers, who are making their first finals appearance, never really got the chance to execute their plays as the defending champions shackled Big Chill’s playmakers and its shooters all game. 

“They are the league’s top offensive team. So we got to do a good job defensively to disrupt their rhythm,” said Fernandez.

The Road Warriors also dominated the boards, 45-27, including an 11-5 edge off the offensive side while limiting the Super Chargers to only seven second chance points.   

Alex Mallari led all scorers with 28 points while Keith Jensen chipped in 11 points and Mac Montilla contributed 10 markers for the Super Chargers, who visibly lacked poise and experience to keep up with their fancied rivals.

Big Chill pulled within 54-68 on a basket by Montilla with still 8:15 to play but Eman Monfort hit a triple and Abueva scored six straight points as the Road Warriors pulled away for good, 81-55, with under three minutes remaining.