Terrafirma relied on the steady hands of Isaac Go and JP Calvo at the foul line in the last minute of a nip-and-tuck battle against NLEX to engineer a 99-95 escape for its second straight win in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Dyip also had the lucky breaks late in the game to remain unscathed on top of the standings.
However, head coach Johnedel Cardel reminded his squad to guard against complacency.
“We have two wins now but I told them every game we need to have the mindset of wanting to win and not to relax. We have to work to reach our goal of making it to the quarterfinals,” Cardel said after the Dyip equaled the same number of wins they had in the previous conference.
Go drilled two crucial charities to give Terrafirma a 97-93 clearance with 58.8 seconds remaining before Calvo sank two more from the stripe after Dave Marcelo scored on a layup for the Road Warriors on the other end in the last 22.3 ticks.
Sean Anthony, who earlier missed a potential game-tying wide-open drive in the last minute, bricked a banked shot in NLEX’s next possession as the Road Warriors absorbed their first defeat in two starts.
Juami Tiongson paced the Dyip with 21 points, Juan Gomez de Liano added 18 markers and five assists while top overall pick of the last rookie draft Stephen Holt had 17 points and seven boards. Calvo chipped in 16 markers.
Terrafirma used a strong third-quarter showing to build momentum after trailing, 47-57, at halftime.
“I told them in the third quarter we have to start good especially in our defense. We pushed them to have an effective defense because they were making easy baskets, scoring off the post, and making extra pocket passes so I told them that in the third quarter, we should stop those. Let them shoot outside and eventually I know they’ll miss and that’s what happened,” Cardel said.
Robert Bolick punched in 29 points, eight assists and five rebounds to lead the Road Warriors.
Jhan Nermal had 15 points while rookie Enoch Valdez got nine points for NLEX.
