NLEX books semis ticket vs Magnolia

NLEX books semis ticket vs Magnolia

PBA

NLEX books semis ticket vs Magnolia

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By ANNA Mae Areja
NLEX advances to PBA semis for first time in franchise history

The Road Warriors advanced to their first semifinal appearance in the PBA, beating Alaska, 87-83, in Game 2 of of their Philippine Cup quarterfinals series Wednesday at the Big Dome.

NLEX won the short series, 2-0, and extended its mastery over Alaska to six games since last season's All-Filipino.

The no. 6 seed Road Warriors will now meet no. 2 Magnolia in the best-of-7 semifinals.

Down 80-83 with three minutes to go, Mika Miranda once again came through for NLEX, scoring five straight points as the Road Warriors took over with 2:06 remaining.

For the Aces, this is the second straight time in the Philippine Cup where their superior seed didn't matter in the quarterfinals. Last season, they lost to Ginebra as the no. 2 seed. Alaska was ranked third this season.

The Scores:
NLEX 87 - Alas 18, Quinahan 16, Miranda 12, Ravena 11, Mallari 8, Fonacier 7, Soyud 5, Tiongson 3, Ighalo 3, Taulava 2, Al-Husaini 2, Gotladera 0

Alaska 83 - Abueva 17, Excimiano 12, Casio 10, Racal 10, Manuel 9, Banchero 8, Thoss 8, Baclao 4, Enciso 2, Cruz 2, Magat 1, J. Pascual 0, Teng 0

Quarters:24-23, 49-43, 68-71, 87-83