THE NLEX Road Warriors remained unbeaten after they outclassed the Cebuana Lhuillier Gems, 76-63, in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup yesterday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The reigning champs got another double-double performance from Clifford Hodge—his fourth in a row—as he tallied 20 points and 13 rebounds while Garvo Lanete added 13 in the rout. The Road Warriors also got their fifth win in a row.
The defending champions seized control by scoring nine of their first 10 points and never trailed the rest of the way. NLEX played minus star forward Calvin Abueva and starting center Ian Sanggalang but their absence didn’t seem to hurt the Road Warriors, who still dominated boards, 49-42.
It was the second loss in five games for Cebuana Lhuillier, which fell into a tie for third to fifth spots with idle Big Chill and RnW Pacific Pipes.
RnW was an 89-75 winner against Café France in the other game.
The Road Warriors, who are seeking their third straight championship, took a 27-19 lead after one quarter behind a balance scoring highlighted by 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range.
The lead stretched to 50-29 at halftime as the Road Warriors held the Gems to 3-of-12 shooting in the second half. Lanete scored 13 points while going 3-of-5 from three-point range and Hodge had 10 points including 2-of-3 three-pointers to keep NLEX’s offense going in the first half.
Reserve forward Raymond Aguilar tallied 20 points and Raymond Ilagan added 18 and 11 rebounds for the RnW Steel Masters, who notched their third consecutive victory in five games with an 89-75 win over the Café France Bakers. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio