By REYNALD MAGALLON
George King drew some cheers from the few but loud Blackwater faithful while being subbed out in the waning seconds. He acknowledged them and gave a thumbs up – seemingly a sign of satisfaction after accomplishing what was asked from him to be done.
The Bossing have successfully come back from the grave of their 0-3 start, rolling into their third straight victory with a 110-99 triumph over the NLEX Road Warriors in the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Friday, Sept. 6.
Joining a Blackwater team which was in dire need of victories a week ago, King continued to inject life to the Bossing cause and put up another explosive showing to take down NLEX and catch their victims on a similar 3-3 slate in Group B.
He finished with 39 points, 15 rebounds and five assists as Blackwater rode a strong first half to build a sizable margin before staving off a fourth quarter rally from NLEX.
Troy Rosario was pivotal in keeping the Road Warriors at bay, dropping all of his 15 points in the second half while collecting 14 rebounds – 11 of which were offensive boards while also being the designated defender to NLEX import Myke Henry.
Four other Bossing scored in double figures with Sedrick Barefield and RK Ilagan chipping in 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Justin Chua and Christian David had 11 and 10 points.
With the win, Blackwater also erased the bitter memories of its 104-87 loss to NLEX in the first round.
Blackwater led by as many as 20 points, 66-46, early in the third frame but still had to douse a late fightback from NLEX behind the efforts of Henry and Robert Bolick.
The Road Warriors came closest at eight, 100-92, with a little over two minutes left but King immediately slammed the door with a booming four off another offensive rebound courtesy from Rosario.
Henry still finished with a double-double of 26 points and 12 rebounds while Bolick did a little bit of everything with 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
Robert Herndon also had 18 points but were not enough save NLEX from absorbing its second-straight loss.
