ANTIPOLO — Converge netted its fourth straight win in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup by dealing Macau a rude sendoff in the form of a 162-108 whipping on Friday evening at the Ynares Center here.
The FiberXers roared to a 41-19 lead after the game’s first 12 minutes, and they’d hardly face any challenge from the guest team en route to collecting the easy victory, which actually adds some weight to their next game.
Coach Delta Pineda & Co. improved to 7-4 in Group A, making their duel with TNT this Sunday a battle for the third spot as the reigning conference champions—now with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson—are toting the same record.
(C) PBA Images
“Very important game on Sunday. Kaya binigyan ho namin ng kumpiyansa lahat ng guys right now, I think all of them were given time inside,” Pineda said as they will be battling a team that’s in the midst of a three-game winning streak.
All 15 players did see action in the rout, with eight of them finishing in double figures, led by Cameron Clark with 32 points on 14-of-15 shooting.
Juan Gomez starred among the locals, finishing with yet another triple-double by tallying 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists, plus a steal and a block.
Justin Arana notched a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jaydee Tungcab supplied 15 points and seven assists, with Justine Baltazar showing some versatility by producing 14 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists.
John Lloyd Clemente made 13 points while Ronan Santos and Alec Stockton added at least 10 for a team that finished with a whopping 53 assists.
According to PBA stats chief Fidel Mangonon III, Converge’s 162 is a franchise record and the most by any team since Swift had 179 in an 18-point win over Presto back in October 18, 1992, in which Tony Harris poured 98 points.
“I feel like it was a good game overall. I feel like we picked it up defensively that led to a lot of easy buckets in transition,” offered Clark. “We got a tough game coming up on Sunday, but we have to take it one game at a time.”
(C) PBA Images
Kobey Lam, on the other hand, dropped 49 points on 40 shots to lead the Giant Pandas, who have played their final PBA game as the Commissioner’s Office no longer intends to bring back the guest team due to their poor performances.
Oscar Lopez had 27 points and nine rebounds for Macau, who ended its two-conference campaign in the league with an overall win-loss record of 5-19.
The Scores:
Converge 162 – Clark 32, Arana 16, Tungcab 15, Baltazar 14, Gomez de Liano 13, Clemente 13, Santos 11, Stockton 10, Abueva 9, Garcia 9, Concepcion 9, Muyang 6, Williams 3, Lepalam 0.
Macau 108 – Lam 49, Lopez 27, Chao 13, Sun 10, Liu 7, Chen 2, Zhang 0, Lu 0, Zhu 0.
Quarterscores: 41-19, 79-52, 119-78, 162-108.
