‘Balti’ powers Converge past Blackwater

Rookie Justine Baltazar came up with a career-high outing in leading the well-balanced attack of Converge to down Blackwater, 127-109, and move closer to a quarterfinals twice-to-beat advantage in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Six FiberXers scored in double figures in the squad’s second straight victory for an 8-3 win-loss record and more importantly, solidified their bid for a Top 2 finish in the elimination round.

Baltazar, the top overall pick in the last Draft dropped a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds in extended minutes of action following an injury scare on Justin Arana in the closing seconds of the third quarter.

“I got more minutes in the fourth quarter after Justin Arana went down. Hopefully, he’ll be OK. They gave me a chance to play and I just gave my best,” said Baltazar, who also had three steals, two assists and two blocks in 32 minutes of playing time.

Converge was in control for majority of the match and even led by as many as 20 in the third quarter, enough to cushion the Bossing’s fight back in the period.

The FiberXers, however, lost Arana in the closing moments of the third canto when he hyperextended his left knee while sidestepping for a fastbreak layup. He was helped out of the court and never returned.

Jordan Heading paced Converge with 22 points on 6-of-11 field goal shooting while reinforcement Cheick Diallo got 20 points and grabbed 18 boards.

Alec Stockton added 19 points while Schonny Winston and John Delos Santos submitted 10 points each for the FiberXers, who will close their elims campaign against struggling defending champion San Miguel Beer on Friday.

Despite the win, acting coach Franco Atienza was far from satisfied.

“We know that we will be able to score. We have good guys. But going into this game our emphasis would be on defense especially against George King. But they were scoring high especially in the first quarter. I think in the first four or five minutes we gave up 17 points,” he said.

Atienza wasn’t particularly amused with the FiberXers giving George King 34 points, including four connections in the four-point area.

“We gave up four four-point shots, so that’s already 16 points. We know he will take that, we know he will hunt for that. We concentrated on that but he still got 34 points and JD Tungcab also had a career game,” he lamented.

The scores:

CONVERGE (127) — Heading 22, Baltazar 20, Diallo 20, Stockton 19, Delos Santos 10, Winston 10, Santos 8, Nieto 8, Arana 7, Racal 3, Caralipio 0, Andrade 0.

BLACKWATER (109) — King 34, Tungcab 20, Chua 16, David 14, Kwekuteye 10, Casio 6, Corteza 4, Ponferrada 3, Guinto 2, Montalbo 0, Ayonayon 0, Jopia 0.

Quarters: 33-26, 70-56, 97-88, 127-109.