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Ronald Pascual hit a corner jumper at the buzzer to lift the NLEX Road Warriors to a 61-59 victory over Cebuana Lhuillier on Thursday in Game 2 of the PBA D-League Foundation Cup and became the first champions of the fledgling league.
A perfect inbound pass from John Raymudo with .8 seconds to play set up Pascual for the thrilling finish – a fitting end to the final game of a titular series that produced a lot of unexpected twist.
The victory gave NLEX a sweep of the best-of-three series.
Pascual, a 6-foot-3 small forward, scored 10 points on 4 of 12 shooting and his game winning shot pierced through the hearts and soul of the Gems, who battled back from 13 points down and were expecting the game to go through overtime when the Road Warriors watched Cebuana Lhuillier guard Kevin Alas ran the length of the floor and score on lay-up that tied the game at 59-59.
Stunned by that play, NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez quickly sued for time and designed the play he said they have been practicing over and over.
“When Cebuana tied the count I know exactly what play to run. We been doing it time and time again in practice and I knew Ronald would make the shot. I was very confident he’ll take it and make it,” Fernandez said.
He was right. Pascual made the shot from deep right corner with Marvin Hayes in front of him.
“Noong binatawan ko yung bola wala akong duda na papasok. Lagi kasi naming pina-practice yun ni coach,” said Pascual, who raised both his hands in jubilation when the ball dropped into the net while his teammates pranced on the floor.
Luigi Trillo, the Cebuana Lhuillier coach, was gracious in defeat.
“Coach Boyet ran a good play. We switched well on defense but Pascual made a tough shot. They deserved it,” Trillo said.
Calvin Abueva led all scorers with 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. With Cliffoird Hodge cornering 10 boards, the Road Warriors outrebounded the Gems, 58-43. “It’s so sweet. It’s a nice feeling,” said Fernandez, when asked about his emotions on winning the first PBA D-league title. “But the credit goes to the players. I can’t accomplish this without their efforts.”
Neither team led by double digit in the first half as both teams shot poorly and concentrated on defense.
The two teams took a combined 136 attempts from the field but made only 44.
Seldom used Hyram Bagatsing led the Gems with 13 points, and his timely shots down the stretch brought back Cebuana Lhuillier back into the game.
NLEX appeared headed for a rout when it uncorked a 16-6 run bridging the second and third quarters and took a commanding 43-30 advanatge on a drive by Pascual.
But the Gems persevered. And when NLEX sputtered they cashed in on every opportunity and managed to tie the count at 45-45 entering the fourth and made the game exciting.
The huge crowd that witnessed the match at the Ynares Sports Arena stayed on the feet for most of the fourth quarter as both teams battled back and forth.
Finally, it looked like NLEX had the game all wrapped up when Ogie Menor split his free throws for a 59-57 count with 6.6 seconds left.
But it wasn’t to be.
With one timeout remaining, Fernandez hollered to his troops not to foul, so Alas, who took the inbounds quickly rush down court and easily scored on a layup to tie the game for the last time.
The scores:
NLEX 61 - Abueva 18, Pascual 10, Ellis 9, Hodge 7, Raymundo 7, Menor 6, Sangalang 2, Dehesa 2, Salamat 0, Taganas 0, Co 0.
CEBUANA 59 - Bagatsing 13, Hayes 10, Alas 9, Maliksi 8, Mandani 5, Sena 4, Mepana 4, Fernandez 2, Canta 2, Semira 2, Elinon 0, Llagas 0, Nabong 0.
Quarters: 13-8; 34-28; 45-45; 61-59.
Source: PBA.ph
