AFTER the final buzzer sounded, NLEX star Robert Bolick hugged the ball and protected it like it was his baby near midcourt.

One can’t blame Bolick—the Road Warriors’ thrilling 103-99 overtime victory over the Ginebra Kings last Sunday night allowed them to gain the last quarterfinals slot in Group B of the PBA Governors’ Cup.

Import DeQuan Jones said it best.

“Coach (Jong Uichico) has a great skill at keeping guys poised,” the former NBA cager said.  “We go out and we practice jump shots, but coach and the staff do a great job with staying positive and keeping everybody mentally into the game.

“I think that was just a testament to coach and our staff. They told us, my teammates as well, they were like, ‘Listen, the second half is a whole new ballgame.’ So, it’s a testament to them,” he added.

The win not only clinched the fourth spot in their group and a Last Eight stint for NLEX which ended its group phase campaign with a 5-5 slate but also showed the door on Blackwater. The Road Warriors will take on the defending champions TNT Tropang Giga in a best-of-5 series beginning this week.

TNT emerged as the top team in Group A with an 8-2 mark.

Ginebra’s loss dropped it to 6-4 for third and handed Rain or Shine the No. 1 seed in Group B where it will face the fourth-ranked squad in Group A—either Converge or Magnolia who clashed at press time last night.

The Kings will tackle the second seed in Group A, the Meralco Bolts, in the quarterfinals.

Jones was saddled with three early fouls but still got the job done with a game-high 44 points on four four-pointers, to go with 10 rebounds, while Bolick added 16 markers, seven boards, and 11 assists.

Anthony Semerad also had 12 and six, including two straight three-pointers, to kick off the Road Warriors’ attack in the extra period.

“We just wanted to keep the game within striking distance. We had control of the regulation period, but they (Ginebra) made big plays,” Uichico said.

“We missed some shots. That’s just the way the game is. We played without DJ (Jones) almost the whole first half, but the guys stayed in the game.”

NLEX came off a 104-79 ripping of Phoenix last Friday in Jones’ debut after replacing original reinforcement Myke Henry.

Ginebra failed to sustain the fiery form it showed in a 112-86 rout of the Fuel Masters six days ago.

Resident import Justin Brownlee, who left the tiff for good at the 3:36 mark of OT, showed the way for the Kings with 26 points, 12 caroms, and six dimes while Japeth Aguilar added 22 and nine.

For a while, Ginebra also lost Aguilar in the third canto due to an accidental hit from Semerad but the former returned and finished the match.

Maverick Ahanmisi, rookie RJ Abarrientos, and former MVP Scottie Thompson also had 15, 14, and 12 markers, respectively, for the Kings.

The road only gets tougher for the Road Warriors from here but it’s anybody’s ballgame in a race-to-3 series.