CONVERGE made lightning strike Phoenix anew and notched a second straight win for the first time in the tourney by coming out with a 116-105 victory Thursday in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Jordan Heading and Cheick Diallo each finished with 21 points for the FiberXers, who were caught off-guard by the Fuel Masters in the early goings but recovered and fully got their acts together in the second half to follow up their 102-91 win over NLEX just last Tuesday.
"We give credit to our guys," said Converge acting head coach Franco Atienza, who was admittedly anxious when Phoenix got off to a blistering start that netted the latter as much as a 20-2 lead.
"We just stuck on, we didn't panic," added Atienza. "We returned to how we want to run our system, how to run our offense, our defense."
Schonny Winston, Bryan Santos and BJ Andrade headed the FiberXers' shock troopers who sparked the fightback before starters Alec Stockton, Diallo and Justine Baltazar polished things off and made sure their fourth win in six games.
Sponsored content:
There will be little rest for Converge, however, as it must do another quick turnaround for the game against Barangay Ginebra on Saturday in Batangas City before ending the year against Meralco on Christmas Day.
Atienza has started focusing solely on Ginebra. "It's a tough schedule for us right now. After this we're headed to an out-of-town on Saturday, so hopefully we will move on from this game and be prepared for that Saturday game," he said.
It marked the fourth time in the mid-season conference that Phoenix failed to hang on to a sizable lead, causing it to drop to a 1-5 slate.
After spearheading Phoenix's early assault with three triples and a four-pointer, Donovan Smith started struggling against Converge's defense but still finished with 30 points and 18 rebounds.
RJ Jazul came off the bench to score 20 points, Tyler Tio added 13 and Ricci Rivero 11, but Jason Perkins was only good for 12 points and under 30 minutes of action after getting into foul trouble early.
Sponsored content:
After trimming the deficit to just 15 at the end of the opening period and just six at the half, Converge not only finally caught up with Phoenix but even overtook it in the third quarter with Diallo and Santos leading the way.
Once the FiberXers grabbed the lead they adamantly refused to give it back, using a balanced attack to break off from an 89-87 count and even stretch the difference to a high of 112-99. (NC)
The Scores :
CONVERGE 116 - Heading 21, Diallo 21, Winston 16, Santos 16, Stockton 14, Andrade 11, Arana 6, Baltazar 6, Racal 5, Delos Santos 0, Caralipio 0.
PHOENIX 105 - Smith 30, Jazul 20, Tio 13, Perkins 12, Rivero 11, Tuffin 8, Verano 4, Garcia 3, Soyud 2, Manganti 2, Salado 0, Alejandro 0, Muyang 0, Ular 0, Daves 0.
QUARTERS : 15-30, 48-54, 87-80, 116-105
