Jordan Heading soars his way to a 21-point performance to power Converge to a 116-105 win over Phoenix in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Photograph by Joey sanchez Mendoza for the Daily Tribune @tribunephl_joey
Games today:
(Philsports Arena)
5 p.m. — NorthPort vs Eastern
7:30 p.m. — Magnolia vs NLEX
Converge stirred up a third-quarter storm and completed a daring comeback from 18 points down to beat Phoenix, 116-105, for a second straight win in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Reinforcement Cheick Diallo and Bryan Santos led the FiberXers’ second half rally as Converge outscored the Fuel Masters, 39-26, in the third canto. The FiberXers kept Phoenix at bay the rest of the way for a 4-2 win-loss slate.
“It’s a testament to how good they are. Their standings don’t show how really good they are because they’ve lost two close games and they came out really prepared. They caught us by surprise,” Converge acting coach Franco Atienza said of the hot-starting Fuel Masters, who ended the first quarter with a 15-point lead and entered the half still in front, 54-48.
Diallo had a double-double of 21 points and 16 rebounds while Jordan Heading hustled for 21 markers, six assists, five steals and three boards.
Santos and Schonny Winston added 16 markers each while Alec Stockton and BJ Andrade contributed 14 and 11 points, respectively, for Converge.
The FiberXers got buried early, 2-20, with a strong start from the Fuel Masters, who came off a win that ended a four-game skid, led by import Donovan Smith.
Converge sustained its chase, patiently chipping away Phoenix’s advantage before taking its first taste of the lead, 69-67, from Santos’ two charities with 5:53 left in the third period.
The FiberXers entered the final canto with a seven-point advantage that ballooned to 13 after Stockton’s pair of charities, 112-99, with 39 seconds left.
‘It’s a testament to how good they are.’
“We just stuck on. We didn’t panic. We returned to how we wanted to run our system, how to run our offense and defense. It’s nice because we have six players in double-digits. We had 19 assists and just 11 turnovers. We were racking up turnovers in the first half but managed to bring it down in the second half,” Atienza said.
Smith had 30 points and 18 rebounds, RJ Jazul had 20 markers while Tyler Tio and Jason Perkins added 13 and 12 points, respectively, but weren’t enough to save the Fuel Masters from going down to a 1-5 mark.
Meanwhile, NorthPort and guest team Hong Kong Eastern collide for the solo lead today at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The Batang Pier and Eastern, who are tied on top of the standings with identical 5-1 slates, clash at 5 p.m. before the 7:30 p.m. meeting between Magnolia and NLEX.
NorthPort seeks to rebound from a previous setback that put a dent into its erstwhile unbeaten record following a hot five-game roll while Eastern has won in its last three outings.
Despite the defeat, the Batang Pier take the loss as a chance to see where they need to improve.
“At least we experienced it this early. You can’t win all the time, right? I guess it got us back down to earth after being on cloud nine,” NorthPort ace forward Arvin Tolentino said.
But beating Eastern is no easy task.
The Hong Kong-based squad eked out a 93-90 decision over Barangay Ginebra last Sunday adding the Kings to its list of victims which includes Governors’ Cup winner TNT, Converge, Phoenix and Blackwater.
Eastern is also finding success in their concurrent campaign in the Hong Kong A1 where they remain unbeaten in seven games and are fresh from a breakthrough win in the East Asia Super League Home-and-Away Season 2 at the expense of San Miguel Beer.
In the other game, the Road Warriors try to check a two-game slide and end the year with a victory to improve their even 3-3 slate.
