CONVERGE proved it’s for real as it repeated over San Miguel Beer, 114-110, to send their PBA Governors Cup quarterfinals series to a deciding Game 5.
Schonny Winston scored 15 of his 26 points in the third quarter to hold the fort for the FiberXers before Justin Arana, import Jalen Jones, Alec Stockton, King Caralipio, and Bryan Santos took over in the final quarter and completed the Game 4 job before another stunned crowd at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Friday night.
The second straight win by the FiberXers tied the series at 2-2.
Both teams get at each other one last time on Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo to earn the right to face Barangay Ginebra in the best-of-seven semifinals starting on Wednesday.
The takeaways in Converge’s 14-point win over San Miguel.
A TIRED TEAM OR IS SAN MIGUEL IMPLODING?
The Beermen had been playing every other day since Saturday of last week. The do-or-die encounter will be the fifth game in nine days for the team including an appearance as part of the East Asia Super League (EASL) opener when they tangled and lost against the Suwon KT Sonicboom of Korea.
During that span, San Miguel registered a 1-3 record win-loss record, including back-to-back against Converge. The frustrations appeared to be mounting for the Beermen that players such as Don Trollano and Jericho Cruz had been called for flagrant foul penalty 1 against Santos and Stockton, respectively, during the Game 4 loss.
There was also the shouting spat between consultant Leo Austria and playing assistant coach Chriss Ross in the third quarter of the same game.
READ: Leo Austria plays down Game 4 bench spat with Chris Ross
WINSTON SETTLES WITH CONVERGE
The Fil-Am guard out of La Salle struggled during his rookie season with the team under former coach Aldin Ayo. But with a change in the system under new coach Franco Atienza and guided by deputy Charles Tiu and consultant Rajko Toroman, Winston has began to earn his niche with the FiberXers.
The conference alone saw the sophomore guard emerge as Best Player of the Game three times, including the pivotal Game 4 win. In the last two games in the playoffs, Winston averaged 18.0 points per game, numbers which the FiberXers needed if they are to pull off the biggest ever win in franchise history.
READ: Tenacious Converge drags SMB into sudden-death Game Five
CONVERGE PLAYING IN ITS BEST SHOWING IN THE PLAYOFFS
After a winless record in its three previous trips to the quarterfinals, the FiberXers have gone on and won two in a row and are now within reach of a first ever semifinals stint in franchise history.
Incidentally, two of its series losses in the quarterfinals both came at the expense of San Miguel, which swept them 2-0 in both the 2022 Commissioner’s Cup and 2023 Governors’ Cup respectively. Its other losses was courtesy of TNT, which enjoyed a twice-to-beat-edge against Converge in the 2022 Philippine Cup.
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