MANILA, Philippines – The NLEX Road Warriors drew a tough assignment in the quarterfinals after losing to Al-Zamalek Egypt, 67-73, to wind up with a 2-2 win-loss record in the classification round of the 26th Dubai International Basketball Tournament at the Al Ahli Club here late Tuesday night (Wednesday morning Manila time).
The Road Warriors failed to carry the momentum of their 87-80 win over UAE national team as they played sluggishly against the Egyptians.
The Road Warriors' import Al Thornton led the team with 18 points and nine rebounds but had eight of the team's 27 whopping turnovers.
Asi Taulava, Mac Cardona, who had 12 points apiece, and Jonas Villanueva committed four turnovers each.
"It's a tough game, 3 games in 3 nights and that took a tool on our players. They are all tired and sluggish as we committed 27 turnovers last night. No excuses, we did shoot ourselves in the foot against Egypt but no one should be blame but it's on me," NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez told Philstar.com in a text message from Dubai.
The loss dropped them to third spot in their bracket where they drew Group B's no. 2 Sale Live Free-Morocco in the cross-over quarterfinals.
Win or lose in this tournament, Fernandez hopes that their Middle East experience have toughen the team as they seek to improve from their 10th place finish in their maiden conference.
"It's a learning experience for everyone. We hope we can improve next conference," said Fernandez who used this trip as their training camp.
The team also bonded as they went for Safari ride in between the games and was hosted by the Philippine embassy and mingled with the Filipino community in Dubai.