Road Warriors storm Chargers, enter final

MANILA, Philippines - Calvin Abueva returned from a one-game suspension to provide NLEX the needed spark as the Road Warriors manhandled the Big Chill Super Chargers, 89-60, yesterday in the deciding Game Three of their PBA D-League Aspirants Cup semifinal series before a big, raucous crowd at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

The lopsided win sent the Road Warriors into a best-of-three titular showdown with finalist-in-waiting Freego Jeans starting tomorrow.

After a blowout loss in Game One and then a near endgame collapse in Game Two, the Road Warriors played with a lot of emotions in the deciding game and left no doubt on who’s the better team.

“We learned our lessons in Game One and Two. Today, we just let go all our emotions. When we took a double-digit lead in the first quarter, I kept telling my players to keep charging. There’s no such thing as a safe lead in this league,” said NLEX coach Boyet Fernandez.

Abueva, who was suspended for striking Jessie Collado in the face in Game One, scored 11 of his game-high 16 points in the first half as the Road Warriors got off to a strong start.

“I talked to Calvin after Game Two and told him his teammates made a lot of effort to save our series and that we are expecting a lot from him in Game Three. He promised to make a difference, and he did,” Fernandez said.

RR Garcia tallied 16 points (10 in the first half) to share scoring honors, Chris Ellis added 12 and Clifford Hodge grabbed 11 rebounds.

Just like any other do-or-die game, this one featured a lot of contacts, pushing and hard fouls with Big Chill’s Jewel Ponferrada and June Dizon, and NLEX’s Dave Marcelo called a flagrant foul category one. 

But that was the only interesting part as NLEX utterly dominated Big Chill.

NLEX’s big men Ian Sanggalang, Hodge, Ellis and Marcelo battled for every inch of the shaded lane and didn’t allow Big Chill’s Ponferrada, Collado and Jensen to get any closer.

“We’re simply overmatched. We played bad and they played one hell of a game,” said Big Chill coach Arsenio Dysangco.

“But I’m still proud of my players. What we had achieved this conference is priceless,” he added.

Big Chill made just 24 of 68 attempts. And worse, the Super Chargers turned the ball over 21 times that netted NLEX 26 points.