CONVERGE rallied from an early 17-point deficit to defeat Rain or Shine, 103-96, on Tuesday in a battle of on-the-rise independent teams in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner’s Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Alec Stockton stood out among a host of players who helped the FiberXers buck a slow start and pull off a huge team that lifted them all the way to second place in the eliminations on a 7-3 (win-loss) record.
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Rain or Shine suffered its second straight defeat and fell to 5-3, dropping from second all the way down to seventh place after a game that left coach Yeng Guiao so frustrated he got ejected on successive technicals.
Guiao's ejection at the 4:34 mark of the third quarter appeared to energize Rain or Shin as it went on an 11-0 blast. But the FiberXers responded with a 5-0 run to close the third, before Stockton & Co. finished the job in the final canto.
Stockton scored 17 of his 21 points in the final quarter to bounce back in a big way after being limited to nine in their loss to TNT last Saturday.
“Going into this game, we know Rain or Shine likes to run. They’re an offensive-minded team. Not taking anything away on the defense, they are number two in scoring. We were able to limit them to 96, tapos ‘yung fastbreak points, somehow medyo ahead kami,” said Converge coach Franco Atienza.
“But we have to ask first bakit down kami 17 points in the first quarter. At least, nakabalik kami which is really a grind-out."
Stockton led a 10-2 run in which he ended that stretch with a jumper with 2:59 remaining that gave Converge a 98-85 advantage.
Jordan Heading also had a notable game when he fired 17 points, while Justin Arana had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks for Converge. Kevin Racal added 13 points and shot a perfect 4-for-4 from threes.
“It was a bit hard to catch up with them. We know we have to be better on our one-on-one defense, their fastbreak attacks, we were a bit hurt in post-up. So it took a lot of our energy to the whole team to stop them because we know that we are really hard one-on-one,” said Atienza.
Jhonard Clarito had 24 points, while Deon Thompson had 22 points and 22 rebounds as Rain or Shine will only have one day to prepare against top-seeded NorthPort, which it plays on Thursday at the Philsports Arena.
The Elasto Painters were already ahead, 23-6, and, 30-17, at the end of the first quarter, but were outscored, 30-13, in the second by the FiberXers.
The scores:
Converge 103 – Stockton 21, Heading 17, Arana 15, Racal 13, Diallo 8, Baltazar 8, Winston 7, Delos Santos 6, Santos 6, Caralipio 2, Ambohot 0, Nieto 0.
Rain or Shine 96 – Clarito 24, Thompson 22, Belga 14, Santillan 11, Nocum 7, Caracut 6, Asistio 5, Tiongson 5, Ildefonso 2, Datu 0, Norwood 0, Lemetti 0.
Quarters: 17-30; 47-43; 73-69; 103-96.
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