MANILA, Philippines — NLEX completely overwhelmed a severely undermanned Macau, 138-78 as it picked up from where it left off at the resumption of the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Road Warriors, already assured of a playoff berth, took advantage of the Giant Pandas’ depleted roster as they booked their eighth win in 10 starts to regain solo lead in Group A.
The foreign guest squad, which showed up without its top gunners, except Kobey Lam, dropped to 2-7 overall.
Macau trailed by as many as 60 points in one of the most lopsided contests in years.
Schonny Winston led NLEX with 25 points, new import Deonte Burton had 22, 14 rebounds and eight assists in a solid PBA debut in lieu of Dequan Jones, who is out for good after sustaining a broken leg last August.
Robert Bolick added 14, while three other Road Warriors had 10 points apiece.
Oscar Lopez, taking over the spot vacated by import DeVondre Perry, led Macau with 36 points and 13 rebounds but had eight turnovers.
Lam was the only other double-figure scorer for Macau with 22 points, but had 10 turnovers.
Macau no longer had top local gunners like big man Ramon Cao, Damian Chongqui, and Jenning Leung as they signed with different teams in the East Asia Super League when the PBA Governors’ Cup went on a seven-week break.
