“WHAT can I do without you?”
Those were the first words NLEX veteran coach Jong Uichico uttered after his team pulled off a gutsy 104-99 victory over defending champion San Miguel Beer last Sunday night for their second straight win in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup—thanks mainly to gunner Robert Bolick.
“It’s a convenience to play with Berto (Bolick’s nickname) because it makes your offensive game easier. He makes great decisions, he makes big shots, he plays defense,” Uichico stressed.
The Road Warriors scored the gutsy come-from-behind win from a 19-point third-quarter deficit (46-65) behind the exploits of the 6-foot-1 Bolick, who scored 20 of his game-high 39 points in the fourth quarter.
“It’s a luxury. I’m lucky I have Robert as our lead point guard. You know he’ll be there at endgame,” Uichico said.
Bolick also added two rebounds and nine assists while import Mike Watkins turned in 17 markers and a match-best 28 boards for NLEX.
Tony Semerad, rookie Xyrus Torres, and Enoch Valdez also did their part with 12, 11, and 10 points, respectively, as the Road Warriors did an encore to a 104-85 whipping of the Terrafirma Dyip Tuesday last week and hiked their card to 2-1.
It was the first loss for the Beermen in the import-spiced meet after a 107-104 escape over the Phoenix Fuel Masters Tuesday last week and slipped to 1-1.
Uichico said his side simply did not wilt despite SMB threatening to break the game wide open in the third canto.
“No major adjustments,” Uichico said. “I just think we defended well and made big shots in the end to catch up.”
Reinforcement Quincy Miller paced the Beermen with 21 points and 11 caroms while reigning eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo added 20 and 19.
CJ Perez, Juami Tiongson, Mo Tautuaa, and Don Trollano also got 14, 11, 11, and 10 markers, respectively, for SMB.
Meanwhile, Pampanga governor Dennis “Delta” Pineda is reportedly set to call the shots for Converge after the mid-term elections next year.
Pineda guided the Pampanga Giant Lanterns to the recent MPBL title, their second in a row.
The FiberXers’ owner, Dennis Antony Uy, went on damning tirades that came on the heels of Converge’s failed bid to appoint Pineda as the team’s representative to the powerful PBA Board last year.
He vocally expressed his displeasure after the pro league did not greenlight Pineda’s appointment and was reportedly trying to lure three independent teams to form a new league, saying the PBA is becoming a duopoly of the SMC and MVP groups.
