Converge pulled off a stunning 97-92 victory over the defending champs in TNT for its second win in three outings in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Wednesday night.
The FiberXers built a lead as big as 15 points but had to repel the Tropang 5G’s late-game fightback led by Bol Bol, with Justin Arana leading the solid finish to ensure the victory that kept them in the thick of the fight for the playoffs.
Arana finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, none bigger than his point-blank bucket against the towering Bol Bol to push their lead to 96-90 with 20.9 seconds left to play, effectively dousing cold water on the opposition’s hopes.
Mikey Williams would go on to split his fouls shots with 10.2 seconds to spare, settling the final count against his former ball club. Converge has now hiked its record to 3-6 while moving a game behind current eight-seed San Miguel (4-5).
(C) PBA Images
“We stayed focused, especially in the third quarter. In the past games, doon kami nahahabol, so focus lang, believe that we can win this thing,” said head coach Delta Pineda as they survived even after losing a 41-30 halftime lead.
“Pag nag-give up po kami, wala na kaming pupuntahan, ‘di ba? Nothing to lose on us, we need to fight, and believe that we can win this game,” he added.
Juan Gomez de Liano supplied 16 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Williams and Alec Stockton added 13 apiece as the quartet led the balanced attack that came about thanks to their 20 assists as a whole.
Converge will soon be bracing for its three remaining games in the elimination round — Phoenix, NLEX, and Blackwater, in that order — as those outings will make or break their hopes of advancing to the Magic Eight in May.
“Una, one game at a time lang kami, kasi may three games pa kami. Iisa-isahin muna namin kais every game sa amin, do-or-die eh,” offered Arana. “Hindi kami puwedeng magmadali at kailangan naming maglaro as a team.”
(C) PBA Images
Bol, on the other hand, had 32 points and 16 rebounds plus three blocks for TNT, whose three-game winning streak came to a screeching halt.
Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser had 14 points, while Jordan Heading had 13 points. Roger Pogoy and Calvin Oftana added 12 markers each in the defeat, in which they only sank three of their 28 attempts from three-point distance.
Still, they managed to knock within just three points, 93-90, behind Bol with 1:27 remaining. But their shooting problems reared their ugly head, as Pogoy and the others could not find the bottom of the net, especially from downtown.
“Unfortunately, we have a team of shooters who cannot shoot,” lamented head coach Chot Reyes about their poor shooting. “That’s the problem. If we cannot make shots, then every other team is going to do what Converge did tonight.”
Now at fifth with Phoenix with a 5-2 record, the Tropa are now eyeing a quick bounce-back against Macau this Friday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Scores:
Converge 97 – Arana 21, Gomez de Liaño 16, Stockton 13, Williams 13, Abueva 9, Muyang 8, Concepcion 6, Kelley 4, Baltazar 3, Policarpio 2, Garcia 2.
TNT 92 – Bol 32, Rosser 14, Heading 13, Pogoy 12, Oftana 12, Nambatac 5, Williams 2, Ferrer 2, Nieto 0, Castro 0, Nava 0, Khobuntin 0, Galinato 0, Aurin 0.
Quarterscores: 15-19, 41-30, 69-61, 97-92.
