CONVERGE extended its hot start, overcoming Macau, 149-124, on Friday in the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The FiberXers got off to a hot start, and weathered a Giant Pandas comeback where they even led, 83-82, midway in the third quarter to improve their win-loss card to 3-0 and share first place in Group A with NLEX.
READ Arana, Concepcion make up after bench spat 'over rebound play'
Justin Arana had a new career-high of 39 points, breaching the 30-point mark for the second straight time after going for 31 against Terrafirma last Saturday.
Macau suffered its third straight loss in the game where its top local scorer Damian Chongqui was ejected with 5:26 left in the second quarter for throwing the ball at a referee.
Tension, however, arose late in the game when Arana and Archie Concepcion were spotted having a verbal altercation on the Converge bench during a timeout in the fourth period.
Arana also hauled 12 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double of the conference. He scored 11 points in the third quarter that helped Converge gain control of the game after Macau briefly led.
“Gumising sila,” Converge coach Delta Pineda said. “Hindi puwedeng mag-relax eh. Even if we had a 19-point lead, imagine, sandali lang naibaba. Kaya pagdating sa huddle, kailangan kong gisingin ‘yung mga bata.
“Hindi ibig sabihin na kaya naming umiskor eh mananalo kami. Depensa pa rin ang kailangang pag-usapan,” Pineda said.
Ramon Cao had 41 points after shooting 5-of-9 from fours, and De’Vondre Perry had 35 points and 15 rebounds in the defeat, Macau’s third this conference.
The scores:
Converge 149 – Arana 39, Williams 16, Stockton 15, Baltazar 13, Abueva 13, Hudson 12, Garcia 11, Gomez de Liano 10, Muyang 8, Concepcion 4, Eguilos 4, Policarpio 2, Santos 2, Tungcab 0.
Macau 124 - Cao 41, Perry 35, Lam 26, Chao 6, Chongqui 6, Y. Zhang 6, Ma 2, Z. Zhang 2, Liu 0, Zhu 0.
Quarters: 34-21; 67-61; 109-96; 149-124.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
