Donovan Smith shone in his return and led Converge to a 130-103 victory over Phoenix to keep their quarterfinals hopes alive in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup at the SMART Araneta Coliseum on Sunday night.
Brought in to replace Kylor Kelley, the towering bruiser dropped 32 points and 13 rebounds as he proved to be a thorn in the side of his former team while steering the FiberXers to back-to-back wins for the first time in this conference.
He led their strong start, which eventually led to a massive third-quarter breakaway. The 32-year-old completely took advantage of not having a counterpart, with James Dickey III sitting out due to an ankle injury.
Big thanks to Smith, Converge improved to 4-6, kicking Terrafirma down the standings while lurking just outside of the Top Eight.
“Missing link talaga sa amin ay ‘yung contribution ng import, especially sa scoring,” offered head coach Delta Pineda. “Talagang kailangan nang magpalit, lalo na we’re in a do-or-die situation. Kailangan namin ng tulong ng import talaga.”
(C) PBA Images
It was a balanced attack by the FiberXers, with four others finishing in double figures. Alec Stockton led the locals with 16 points.
Justine Baltazar notched another double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds. Then lead big man Justin Arana and Juan Gomez de Liano chipped in 13 points apiece and combined for 17 rebounds and nine assists.
Calvin Abueva, Archie Concepcion, and Mikey Williams also contributed nicely in the wire-to-wire win, which saw 15 players score at least a point.
Now even more confident, Converge will look to finish its elimination round with wins against the no. 2 NLEX and Blackwater on May 2 and May 9, respectively.
(C) PBA Images
Ricci Rivero led Phoenix with 26 points and six rebounds in the loss — a dampener after a massive upset of Rain or Shine last Tuesday, where the crew ended the latter’s undefeated seven-game winning streak.
Jason Perkins made 17 points and five rebounds. Ken Tuffin had 15 points and five rebounds as well. Meanwhile, Tyler Tio and rookie Will Gozum added 10 each in the crushing defeat, where they also got dominated on the boards, 71-35.
The Fuel Masters fell to 5-4 after seeing their two-game winning run snapped. They are now looking to sweep their remaining games against TNT (May 1), Macau (May 6), and San Miguel Beer (May 9) to advance.
“It’s tough, but that’s basketball. No excuses,” head coach Charles Tiu said. “Even without the import, we should still try our best to compete.
“Siguro na-deflate din yung guys namin, medyo hungrier yung Converge, they’re also in a must-win situation,” the young bench tactician added.
The Scores:
Converge 130 – Smith 32, Stockton 16, Baltazar 15, Arana 13, Gomez de Liano 13, Abueva 9, Concepcion 7, Williams 5, Policarpio 4, Garcia 4, Eguilos 4, Muyang 3, Clemente 2, Reyson 2, Lepalam 1.
Phoenix 103 – Rivero 26, Perkins 17, Tuffin 15, Gozum 10, Tio 10, Escandor 9, Daves 6, Nelle 5, Delos Santos 3, Cullar 2, Santos 0, Ando 0, Ynot 0, Caperal 0.
Quarterscores: 29-16, 61-46, 94-71, 130-103.
