Jones, Bolick help NLEX pull even with TNT in PBA quarters

Sports

IMPORT DeQuan Jones was steady as usual while Robert Bolick bounced back from a lackluster performance in Game 1 as the duo powered the NLEX Road Warriors to a series-tying 93-90 win over the TNT Tropang Giga in their best-of-five quarterfinal series of the 49th PBA Governors Cup on Friday night, September 27, at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Center in Laguna.

Jones finished with 38 points, 12 rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block, leading a big win for NLEX that enabled them to tie the series at one-all.

The two teams will shoot for a crucial 2-1 series lead when they clash on Sunday for the series’ Game 3.

NLEX lost Game 1, 102-107, where Bolick scored just 10 points. He was quick to atone himself from that meager Game 1 production by scoring 16 points in Game 2, including a crucial three-point play that shattered an 87-all standoff with only two minutes left.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson led TNT with 22 points and 22 rebounds but missed crucial free throws in the dying seconds that could have sent the game into a five-minute extension.

Hollis-Jefferson scored 45 points while Jones had 38 in Game 1 in what is shaping up to be an epic duel between the two imports.

THE SCORES:

NLEX (93) - Jones 38, Bolick 16, Herndon 8, Amer 6, Valdez 5, Rodger 4, Policarpio 4, Anthony 4, Nermal 3, Mocon 3, Miranda 2, Semerad 0, Nieto 0, Torres 0.

TNT (90) - Hollis-Jefferson 22, Castro 19, Pogoy 19, Nambatac 11, Oftana 9, Aurin 6, Khobuntin 2, Williams 2, Galinato 0, Heruela 0, Reyes 0, Erram 0.

QUARTERSCORES: 24-21, 40-40, 69-64, 93-90.(CCM)