Donovan Smith announced his return to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) with a big bang as he towed Converge to a 130-103 win over Phoenix Super LPG for their second straight victory in Commissioner’s Cup action on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Smith shot 12-of-20 from the field for 32 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against his former squad as the FiberXers improved to a 4-6 win-loss record.
Smith, 32, was tapped by Converge to replace Kylor Kelley as the team made a last-minute bid to enter the quarterfinals.
The 6-foot-10 big man admitted he had fun facing off against his former squad but remained focused on winning the game.
“I mean, it was fun seeing a couple of those guys over there, reuniting with them and talking with them. Some of these guys I still talk to today,” Smith said.
“Most importantly, we won, which is fine. Yes, there was a lot of banter, but I told them before the game that we would win, so I stood on that.”
With only two more games left in Converge’s elimination round campaign, head coach Delta Pineda believes Smith is the final piece of the puzzle in their push for a playoff berth.
“For these coming two games, we’ll treat this as do-or-die. We’re still hoping that we’ll be able to make it to the playoffs,” Pineda said.
“We’ll do our best in the last two games. We’ll give our best, especially now that we have Donovan here. I think our missing link is this guy.”
A triple by Smith with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter sparked a 12-0 run by Converge as it established a 25-11 lead and stayed ahead for the rest of the game.
Juan Gomez de Liaño converted a three-point play with 4:12 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the FiberXers their biggest lead of the game at 123-89.
Alec Stockton fired 16 points off the bench, while Justine Baltazar added a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Ricci Rivero scored 26 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Fuel Masters dropped to a 5-4 mark.