MANILA, Philippines — NLEX continued its flying start under new Coach Jimmy Alapag after clobbering San Miguel Beer, 110-96 for its fourth straight win in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Road Warriors improved to 4-0 overall to grab the top spot in Group A, while the Beermen dropped to joint second place with the Converge FiberXers at 3-1.
NLEX led by 18 at the half and stretched its lead to as high as 25 as the team passed its first major test in the tournament under Alapag.
Import DeQuan Jones led NLEX with 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Schonny Winston instigated the team’s breakaway after dropping 20 of his 24 points in the first half.
George King led SMB with 31 points and eight rebounds, but accounted for nine of the team’s 18 turnovers.
Leo Austria appeared in an SMB game for the first time but sat behind the team bench as he let lead assistant Peter Martin call the shots.