Converge gave the rebooting Terrafirma a 116-87 pummeling to begin the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup on Wednesday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
The FiberXers rolled to a big lead early before breaking away for good in the third canto, eventually beating the Dyip in another conference opener like what they did in the opening salvo of the Season 49 Governors’ Cup last August.
Coach Franco Atienza and Co. were just four points away from surpassing the biggest win margin in franchise history, which they set in that aforementioned victory three months ago — a 127-95 result at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
“More than the win, more than the score, we look at the process, we look at how we played today,” Atienza said. “Based on the stats… it’s just a good overall game for us, good first game. I think we dictated the pace pretty well.”
Cheick Diallo led Converge with 25 points and 16 rebounds. Justin Arana came through with his own double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Big man Bryan Santos made 15 points while Mike Nieto supplied 11 points in the victory that gave Jordan Heading a successful league debut.
The lefty shooter finished with eight points on 3-of-5 field goal shooting, four rebounds, and six assists against three turnovers in 23 minutes, doing it all against the very franchise that drafted him back in 2021.
“So far, so good,” said Atienza of Heading. “We believe he played really well. He’s slowly understanding what we want to do on both ends of the floor.”
“I think for the first game, he exceeded our expectations,” he added. “But the main thing is how we would be able to fuse him into what we want to do.”
Converge will now turn its attention to guest team Hong Kong Eastern in a bid to go 2-0 on Friday, November 29, 7:30 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
CJ Catapusan, meanwhile, had 13 points to lead Terrafirma in the loss that spoiled the debut of acting head coach Raymond Tiongco
Louie Sangalang, Stanley Pringle, and Mark Nonoy all finished with 11 points as the locals picked up the slack after import Ryan Richards only had 10 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the floor and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes.
The Dyip played without new guys Terrence Romeo (injury) and Vic Manuel (illness) but Tiongco expects the former San Miguel wards to make their team debut versus NorthPort on Saturday, November 30, 7:30 p.m. at NAS.
The Scores:
Converge 116 – Diallo 25, Arana 16, Santos 12, Nieto 11, Heading 8, Winston 7, Stockton 7, Ambohot 6, Fleming 6, Andrade 5, Racal 5, Fornilos 3, Javillonar 3, Santos 2, Cabagnot 0.
Terrafirma 87 – Catapusan 13, Sangalang 11, Pringle 11, Nonoy 11, Richards 10, Carino 8, Hernandez 6, Ramos 5, Melecio 4, Paraiso 3, Ferrer 3, Zaldivar 2, Hanapi 2.
Quarterscores: 34-16, 59-42, 86-67, 116-87.
