Romwel Anzures

NLEX Road Warriors star Robert Bolick in action against Hong Kong Eastern in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup. Photo from PBA Images.

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<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1738148083621IMG_6130.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="NLEX Road Warriors star Robert Bolick in action against Hong Kong Eastern in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup. Photo from PBA Images."/>NLEX Road Warriors star Robert Bolick in action against Hong Kong Eastern in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup. Photo from PBA Images.MANILA — The NLEX Road Warriors have won their third straight victory to secure at least a playoff for a quarterfinals spot in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup.</div>The Jong Uichico-coached squad was able to do so after they pulled away in the second half en route to a 94-76 victory over Hong Kong Eastern during their Chinese New Year’s Day faceoff at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.“We’ll take this win,” said Uichico, whose team was, at one point in the conference, on the brink of elimination. “Basta may tsansa naman kami. Earlier, two weeks ago, we were on the brink na. Pero ngayon, may tsansa na kami, we will take this.”The Road Warriors can outright advance into the playoffs as the eighth seed if the Magnolia Hotshots lose on Friday as this would be putting the Chito Victolero-mentored team at 5-7.Aside from this, NLEX can even rise to the seventh spot, and this is if Magnolia wins and the Rain or Shine ElastoPainters lose also on Friday. In this scenario, the Hotshots and the E-Painters will slug it out for the final playoff ticket.Following the Road Warriors’ win, they eliminated the San Miguel Beermen from quarterfinals contention. This is the first time that the Beermen would not advance into the playoffs since the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup wherein they finished as the ninth seed.Helping NLEX do this was Mike Watkins who exploded with 41 points on top of 14 rebounds, two assists, and two blocks, while Robert Bolick followed with an all-around outing of 21 markers, eight dimes, and five boards.Also stepping up for the Road Warriors, especially in the pivotal third canto wherein Bolick even sat briefly due to a lower leg injury, were Jonnel Policarpio and Javee Mocon who each scored nine, and Rob Herndon and Xyrus Torres who scored six and five, respectively.Only leading 43-42 at halftime, the Road Warriors zoomed past the guest squad in the third period and turned a slim 55-51 cushion into a 62-53 advantage all thanks to a spurt from Watkins, Xyrus Torres, and Tony Semerad with still 3:32 in the same frame.However, this turned out to be only a prelude to how NLEX completed their pullaway in the last period as they even distanced themselves by 19 markers at multiple points, and this was all they needed to boost their hopes of entering the playoffs.Meanwhile, leading Eastern, which concluded their elimination round campaign at 7-5, was Chris McLaughlin who had an 18-point, 17-rebound game with five assists and two steals.<div>The Scores:</div>NLEX 94 – Watkins 41, Bolick 21, Mocon 9, Policarpio 9, Herndon 6, Torres 5, Ramirez 3, Alas 0, Semerad 0.Eastern 76 – McLaughlin 18, Blankley 14, Yang 12, Lam 11, Cao 5, Cheuung 5, Chan 4, Guincahrd 3, Pok 2, Leung 2.Quarterscores: 18-23, 43-42, 65-57, 94-76.<div>RELATED VIDEO:</div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABTqhLYfbGJRkSeh&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script>

The NLEX Road Warriors have won their third straight victory to secure at least a playoff for a quarterfinals spot in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup.

The NLEX Road Warriors have won their third straight victory to secure at least a playoff for a quarterfinals spot in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup.

PBA: NLEX dumps Eastern to secure playoff for 8th spot, oust SMB from contention

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PBA: NLEX dumps Eastern to secure playoff for 8th spot, oust SMB from contention

Rom Anzures,

ABS-CBN News

Published January 29, 2025 07:44 PM PHT

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Updated January 29, 2025 08:05 PM PHT

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Basketball

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PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup

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