THE THREE-TIME reigning champions NLEX Road Warriors had six players score in double figures as they debuted this season with a 101-71 win over Erase XFoliant in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup yesterday at the Arena in San Juan City.
The Road Warriors, the only team to have hoisted the title in this tournament, flaunted their star-studded lineup with such dominance as they unleashed an 11-0 run in the first period that set the tone for the lopsided win.
Still, in spite of the one-sided nature of the match, two Erasers got ejected in the highly-physical game. Ervic Vijandre was sent to the showers early after a scuffle with NLEX’s Ronald Pascual late in the first before Macky Acosta got tossed for getting too physical with Russell Escoto in the payoff period.
The Road Warriors absolutely made mincemeat out of the defense of the Erasers as they erected a 41-point lead at 96-55 with 4:03 left.
Garvo Lanete paced the Road Warriors with 17 points while NCAA MVP Ian Sangalang added 14 markers. UAAP Finals MVP Nico Salva followed suit with 13.
Cebuano big man Greg Slaughter was not able to play as he is still in the process of securing the necessary paperwork from the Bureau of Immigration./Correspondent Jonas Panerio