CONVERGE dodged a bullet against Terrafirma to hack out a 105-103 victory and stay undefeated in the PBA 50th Season Governors' Cup.
Justin Baltazar pulled off the game's biggest defensive play when he blocked Aljon Mariano's potential game-tying basket in the final 27 seconds to preserve the win.
After a Converge turnover, Maverick Ahanmisi missed a game-winning 4 at the buzzer as the Dyip barely fell short of completing a comeback from a late 16-point deficit.
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“Kapag kalaban namin ang Terrafirma, ganado talaga sila. We had a 16-point lead. Pero nahabol pa rin,” said Converge head coach Delta Pineda, still haunted by the memory of the Dyip beating the FiberXers in overtime during the last Commissioner’s Cup.
“Good thing nalampasan na namin yung sumpa with Terrafirma.”
Justin Arana had another double-double of 31 points and 10 rebounds to lead Converge, which also got 19 from rookie Juan Gomez De Liano, and a double-double as well from Baltazar with his 16 and 14 boards.
Archie Concepcion and Mike Garcia were the other FiberXers in double figures with 16 and 13 points, respectively, to make up for the limited playing time of veteran guard Alec Stockton, who is coming off sickbay and missed the team’s debut game against Titan.
Import Jalen Hudson struggled from the floor by shooting 1-of-14 for two points and eight rebounds.
The FiberXers appeared ready to cruise to victory after taking a 78-62 lead in the third quarter, but suddenly found themselves under attack in the fourth when the Dyip rallied behind the guns of import Justin Strings, Juami Tiongson, CJ Catapusan, and Mariano.
Tiongson’s final 3 of the night pulled Terrafirma to within 105-103 with 1:16 to go.
Baltazar then missed a four-point shot in Converge’s next play, but made up for the blunder when he swatted away Mariano’s potential game-tying layup.
A Concepcion turnover however, opened the door for a possible Terrafirma win, but Ahanmisi’s potential game winner missed the mark.
The loss pushed the Dyip to a 1-2 record and spoiled the 40-11-5 stats line of Strings.
The scores:
Converge (105) - Arana 31, Gomez de Liano 19, Baltazar 16, Concepcion 13, Garcia 12, Williams 9, Abueva 3, Hudson 2, Stockton 0, Tungcab 0, Policarpio 0, Muyang 0.
Terraforma (103) - Strings 40, Tiongson 17, Catapusan 11, Chiu 9, Paraiso 7, Ahanmisi 6, Mariano 6, Bravo 5, Hanapi 2, Umali 0, Miller 0, Eriobu 0, Zaldivar 0.
Quarterscores: 35-36; 59-51; 82-71; 105-103.
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