Alec Stockton badly wanted to redeem himself from a showing below his own standards against TNT when Converge faced off against Rain or Shine in a clash of young squads in Tuesday night’s PBA Commissioner’s Cup action.
He sure did.
The rising star guard fired 21 points, 17 of which he unloaded in the fourth quarter alone, to power his FiberXers to a 103-96 victory that elevated the crew all the way up to the second seed in the team standings with a 7-3 record.
The team they dislodged at that high of a spot, if ever you wonder, was the Elasto Painters, who suddenly dropped to no. 7 with a 5-3 record after stumbling to back-to-back losses for the first time in this midseason conference.
“I just wanted to make sure I’m able to bounce back and give my team a chance to win,” offered Stockton, who also collected four rebounds and five assists, during the postgame presser at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Stockton has been a consistent figure for Converge — and in the whole tourney, actually — but doing so has only made him a point of attack defensively by opposing teams, all of them looking to limit the playmaker the best they can.
The Tropang Giga did succeed in that when the budding rivals faced off last Saturday in the same venue. There, he was only held to seven points, with two-way specialist and fellow FEU Tamaraw Roger Pogoy mainly defending him.
“Our objective was to at least neutralize two but I knew if we stop one, we will have a chance. And you know how well Stockton has been playing lately, he’s been playing at an All-Star level,” said TNT head coach Chot Reyes then.
(C) PBA Images
His backcourt partners in Jordan Heading and Deschon Winston tried to pick up the slack by leading their second-half surge, but the FiberXers as a whole could only do so much as they fell to a late Rondae Hollis-Jefferson fadeaway.
“Personally, I played really bad, I played awful the last game, especially down the stretch,” reflected the 26-year-old Stockton.
“I wasn’t able to give my team a chance. So I wanna make sure I bounce back in this game.”
He accomplished as much, no doubt, most especially during the fourth where he went on a scoring tear that saw him lead a run before helping ward off their foes, who despite losing Coach Yeng Guiao to technical fouls, still fought.
But the former second-round pick of Alaska in 2021 finds satisfaction not solely in his bounce-back showing itself but in being able to repay the trust given by his coaches that he can deliver when needed the most.
“I’m just grateful to have these coaches — sina Coach Franco (Atienza), Coach Charles (Tiu), Coach Willie (Miller). They give their trust in me, so I just wanna give back to them,” said Stockton. “You know, they put me there to close the game out.
“And, I just wanna make sure I’ll do the job for them.”
