De Liaño helps Converge book quarterfinal ticket

Games tomorrow:

(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)

5:15 p.m. — Macau vs TNT

7:30 p.m. — Meralco vs Blackwater

Juan Gomez de Liaño dropped a triple-double as Converge cruised past Titan Ultra, 152-119, to book a quarterfinal seat in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The rookie guard filled the stats sheet with 32 points on a near-perfect 12-of-14 shooting from the field, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out 13 assists in an efficient 33 minutes of action for the FiberXers’ third straight win and a sweep of the Giant Risers in Group A play.

“I just want to give credit to my team, the whole staff and management, for giving me the trust to be able to kind of just play my game and give me the green light to lead the team,” De Liaño said.

Converge improved to a 6-4 win-loss record tied with defending champion TNT in third to fourth. The FiberXers’ victory closed the playoffs race in the group with NLXE (8-2) and San Miguel Beer (7-3) also through to the next round.

It was a wire-to-wire blowout for Converge after starting hot in its return to action after a two-month break.

The FiberXers, however, had some defensive lapses in the third period after establishing a 20-point lead, something head coach Delta Pineda wasn’t particularly happy about.

“There’s still a lot of adjustments we need to work on. We need to maintain our intensity especially on defense,” he lamented.

“They can score. If they want to score, they can score but sometimes there are quarters that they tend to relax after establishing a good lead. And that is something that we really need to adjust.”

Titan Ultra made it interesting in the third quarter after getting buried, 90-70, with 5:28 left following a Justin Arana jumper.

The Giant Risers ignited a 20-7 run with a couple of four-pointers, including one from RR Garcia that cut down their deficit to seven, 97-90, with 37 seconds remaining.

But it was the closest that Titan Ultra could get as Converge poured 53 points in the final period.

Cameron Clark had 30 points, Justine Baltazar posted a double-double of 20 markers and 11 boards while Alec Stockton and Calvon Abueva added 16 and 15 points, respectively, for the FiberXers.

The Giant Risers absorbed a third straight defeat for a 2-8 mark at the bottom with guest team Macau.

Tirrell Brown has 31 points and nine rebounds while Joshua Munzon and Aris Dionisio finished with 22 and 16 points, respectively, for Titan Ultra.