It was RJ Abarrientos’ turn to drop a 30-piece as Ginebra took a vengeful 105-85 victory over Converge to force a sudden death in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup quarterfinals, Thursday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The former overseas import reset his PBA career-high with 35 on a 66.7-percent shooting clip as he presided over the Kings’ strong fourth-quarter push toward moving one win away from totally disarming the twice-to-beat FiberXers.
The win, furthermore, enabled the crowd darlings to gain a measure of payback against a team that beat them by way of a 106-96 decision during the eliminations in which Juan Gomez de Liano starred by erupting for 32.
He actually appeared to be on the way to another big outing when he scored seven points in the opening period, but the Barangay held him down afterward, and the lefty guard would struggle as he only finished with nine points.
Converge as a whole would struggle most particularly in the second half, as the crowd darlings showed much better control and poise as if they were the higher seed on the way to giving their faithful a nice present for Christmas.
“I wanna say it was an RJ show. He had a tremendous second half,” lauded head coach Tim Cone of his prized guard, who went 6-of-8 from three and also collected three rebounds, four assists, and two steals in 29 minutes.
Not to be outdone was Scottie Thompson, who notched yet another triple-double performance with 13 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.
Japeth Aguilar came through with 16 points and six rebounds. Stephen Holt made 11 points and nine rebounds while Troy Rosario added 10 as they all contributed to a strong second half that turned the tide in their favor.
Holt and Abarrientos connived for five straight points before Rosario fed Jayson David for a bucket inside for the quick 7-0 run that pushed their lead to 90-75 with less than five minutes left, which slowly took the fight out of their foes.
“It was really a complete team exercise tonight,” said Cone as a total of 10 players scored at least a field goal in the campaign-saving victory.
Justine Baltazar led Converge with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Deschon Winston had 14 points while Alec Stockton and MJ Garcia added 12 and 10 points, respectively, on a night Justin Arana got hounded by foul trouble.
Arana only had six points, four rebounds, and six assists as the bruising big man got called for four fouls in just the first half, including three in the first.
Still, the FiberXers managed to compete and even held a one-point lead at the break, but Ginebra got itself going afterward. The Kings took a six-point lead after the third before exploding for 35 in the deciding frame to close it out.
Both teams will now turn their attention to the do-or-die game on Sunday at the Big Dome, still, with the winner facing San Miguel in the best-of-7 semis.
The Scores:
Ginebra 105 – Abarrientos 35, J.Aguilar 16, Thompson 13, Holt 11, Rosario 10, Cu 8, David 6, Torres 2, Gray 2, Estil 0, R. Aguilar 0.
Converge 85 – Baltazar 19, Winston 14, Garcia 10, Gomez de Liano 9, Manuel 7, Arana 6, Concepcion 5, Muyang 3, Racal 0, Caralipio 0, Eguilos 0, Delos Santos 0.
Quarterscores: 23-21, 41-42, 70-64, 105-85.
#WATCH: IT WAS A COMPLETE TEAM EXERCISE TONIGHT
Tim Cone says every Ginebra player stepped up to take down a tough Converge squad and keep their hopes alive 🏀#ReadMore 👉 https://t.co/MMe0NVZ2IC
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#PBA50 pic.twitter.com/k7QhyuDZft
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) December 25, 2025
