Converge moved a win away from advancing to the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup semifinals following a 105-89 rout of Rain or Shine in Game 3 of their quarter series at the City of Dasmariñas Arena in Cavite, Tuesday night.
The FiberXers took the lead for good late in the third quarter after staring at a 64-56 deficit, before running away wide in the deciding period en route to winning their second straight game to build a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 battle.
Coach Delta Pineda and his charges could close it out in Game 4 this Friday, November 6, 7:30 p.m. at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, which, if they do, would bring the young franchise to its very first appearance in the ‘Final Four.’
(C) PBA Images
“Hindi po, maybe we just got lucky. Nakuha lang po sa dasal,” offered Pineda, even though they basically have the twice-to-beat advantage in the series.
“Tapos, hindi lang po nagsi-pasok outside shooting nila,” he added as their foes went 12-of-40 from three in the bout. “So, we still need to prepare. Hindi pa po tapos ang laban. Expect more from Rain or Shine in the next game.”
Converge did it by committee again to get ahead, with Juan Gomez de Liano leading the way with 19 points alongside 13 rebounds and six assists.
The lefty star had a hand in the third-quarter turnaround, helping out in the 12-0 run that was sparked by Alec Stockton to erase the aforementioned eight-point lead of the Elasto Painters and turn it to a 68-64 lead with 5:31 on the clock.
He’d go on to help keep them ahead the rest of the way, highlighted by a fadeaway jumper against the bigger Aaron Fuller to push their lead to 101-81 with 3:54 left to play before pulling off the ‘Night, Night’ celebration.
Cam Clark finished with 18 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Justine Baltazar made 15 points and six boards. Jonnel Policarpio made 13 points, all of which he made in the first half, on top of seven rebounds and three steals.
Calvin Abueva scored 13 as well and collected 10 rebounds, while Justin Arana fell just short of notching a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.
(C) PBA Images
Rain or Shine, on the other hand, was led by Felix Lemetti with 18 points as the locals did much of the scoring after import Aaron Fuller got limited to only four points on 2-of-11 shooting from the floor, although he had 13 rebounds.
Caelan Tiongson and rookie Deo Cuajao made 16 points apiece in the loss that put to naught Adrian Nocum’s first career triple-double, which saw the star guard finish with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists against seven turnovers.
Now in a dangerous position, Coach Yeng Guiao & Co. have no other choice but to win two in a row if they are to advance to the semis in December.
The Scores:
Converge 105 – Gomez de Liano 19, Clark 18, Baltazar 15, Policarpio 13, Abueva 13, Arana 9, Stockton 7, Williams 5, Tungcab 4, Garcia 2, Concepcion 0, Santos 0.
Rain or Shine 89 – Lemetti 18, Tiongson 16, Cuajao 16, Nocum 11, Malonzo 10, Clarito 5, Villegas 5, Fuller 4, Caracut 2, Manaytay 2
Quarterscores: 32-32, 52-53,82-75, 105-89.
