NLEX leaned on a strong start the overcame a late flurry from Phoenix on the way to a 104-97 victory to sweep the Phoenix Super Basketball Tournament Friday at Upper Deck Gym in Pasig.
Bong Galanza scored all of his 10 points in the first quarter as the Road Warriors took control early they led 37-23 after one quarter.
NLEX led by as much as 21 points that proved enough to weather the Jorey Napoles-led Phoenix rally that cut the final count to just seven points.
JR Quinahan topscored for the Road Warriors with 15 points, four assists, and three rebounds, while Philip Paniamogan shot 3-of-6 from distance to wound up with 13 points, seven boards, and three assists off the bench.
Raul Soyud chimed in 12 points and six rebounds, while Kevin Alas also had eight of his 10 points in the opening canto.
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"We're happy with the results, pero sana totoo. Kaya lang it's an exhibition game," said coach Yeng Guiao, still hesitant with the early returns of his side's buildup for the 2020 PBA Philippine Cup.
"I like the way we played with intensity especially the first three quarters. We got a good lead, but we relaxed in the latter part of the fourth quarter, so to me that's a bad sign. But we played really well for three-and-a-half quarters, so konti na lang. That's something I think we can fix the next few weeks."
NLEX earlier beat San Miguel, 103-97 on Monday and Alaska, 104-89 on Wednesday to complete a 3-0 romp in the invitational tourney.
Jason Perkins led the Fuel Masters with 23 points, six rebounds, and four assists, while Napoles scored 10 of his 20 points in that failed fourth quarter fightback.
Matthew Wright also went 3-of-9 from deep to uncork 20 points, five assists, and three boards in the loss.(RL)
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The Scores:
NLEX 104 -- Quinahan 15, Paniamogan 13, Soyud 12, Alas 10, Galanza 10, Ighalo 9, Miranda 8, McAloney 8, Fonacier 7, Varilla 6, Porter 4, Baguio 2, Lao 0, Paredes 0.
PHOENIX 97 -- Perkins 23, Wright 20, Napoles 20, Heruela 11, Jazul 8, Chua 7, Potts 4, Rios 2, Reyes 2, Tansingco 0, Marcelino 0.
Quarters: 37-23, 59-43, 87-73, 104-97.
