Don Trollano established the tone for NLEX’s 112-104 triumph against NorthPort in Wednesday’s PBA Commissioner’s Cup game at the Araneta Coliseum.
Without prized player Kevin Alas, Trollano took over the scoring duties at the onset of the match, shooting 18 of his 29 points in the first quarter.
Import Thomas Robinson then took over in the latter part of the game for the Road Warriors, finishing with 30 points and 18 rebounds.
NLEX coach Frankie Lim said he needed to make adjustments in the absence of Alas who went down with an ACL injury.
“It was pretty hard because we always use Kevin for our pick-and-roll plays. Right now, we don’t have that kind of player to execute our pick and roll,” he said.
Good thing they have Trollano.
“I want Don to get started early. Maganda pag pumasok ang first shots n’ya, Maganda talaga. He helped us a lot, especially in the first quarter,” said Lim.
This allowed the Road Warriors to lead by as much as 16 points against the Joshua Munzon-led Batang Pier.
Down the drain went the efforts of four Batang Pier players who dished out double digits.
Miunzon scored 22, while import Venkatesha Join had 20 markers. Arvin Tolentino and Cade Flores scored 19 and 15, respectively.
But NLEX’s victory did not come without a hitch.
Robinson apparently had a shouting match with NorthPort team consultant Pido Jarencio on their way to their respective dugouts.
“Naabutan ko nagmumurahan na sila,” said Lim.
“Siyempre tinatakot nila si Robinson, hindi naman papatakot ‘yang isa. Ended up with bad words towards each other. Sabi ko pagpasensyahan mo na ganon talaga.”
The post Trollano’s strong start propels NLEX past NorthPort first appeared on Fastbreak.
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