ALEC Stockton and Justin Arana hugged it out after Converge clinched a semifinal berth in the PBA 50th Season Governors’ Cup after several tries.
Stockton and Arana are the only remaining players who were part of the FiberXers since the beginning in 2022.
But unlike Arana who became part of the squad in the draft when he was picked at No. 4 in 2022, Stockton could be considered as the longest tenured among the two players since he has been there even during the Alaska days, and was absorbed by Converge following the sale of the franchise.
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The 28-year-old Stockton said the semifinals is extra special due to these circumstances.
“Me and Justin, we’ve been here for the longest and pretty much the rest of the staff. We’ve been here since Alaska, actually. We haven’t even touched the semifinals my whole career in the PBA, so this is my first time ever. So I’m just really super grateful, super happy now, We’re able to get to where we are right now,” said Stockton.
A No. 21 pick by Alaska in 2020, Stockton has seen a lot of lows in his career, including that last game of the storied franchise during the 2021 Governors’ Cup quarterfinals when they were swept by NLEX.
Ironically, the FiberXers will be up against NLEX in the Road Warriors’ first semifinal appearance since that series win over Alaska five years ago.
But before this achievement by the FiberXers, Stockton and company also had a lot of setbacks including seven quarterfinal exits.
“It’s definitely a full circle because you remember that feeling every time we lost. We bottled it up until up to this point, and we just let it out. We don’t want to go back to that anymore. So I’m just super glad we’ve gotten over the hump this time. We really worked hard for this," he said.
“I’m super proud of my guys, my teammates, to the coaching staff, management. We’ve been through so much to get to where we are at right now. We deserve this, and we really worked hard. It’s literally blood, sweat, and tears to go to where we are right now,” he added.
There won’t be too much celebrating for Converge with the next goal being playing in the finals against either Barangay Ginebra or TNT.
“There is so much work to be done to be able to get on to the next level."
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