BY: REYNALD MAGALLON
Justin Arana posted a career-high 39 points as Converge outgunned Macau, 149-124, to keep its hot start in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium on Friday, July 17.
The 6-foot-7 center threw his weight around inside the paint, pouring 22 of his total in the first half before presiding over a 23-4 run bridging the third and final frame to pull away for good.
The FiberXers led by as many as 19 points through the first two quarters but the Giant Pandas came back roaring and even led 83-82 in the third frame.
Converge was only holding on to a one point lead, 92-91, before unloading the back-breaking run that established them a commanding 115-96 lead midway through the final frame.
Seven other players finished in double figures with Mikey Williams and Justine Baltazar 16 and 13, respectively. Jalen Hudson had another subpar game although a bit of an improvement from his last outing this time firing 12.
Alec Stockton finished with 15 points while Calvin Abueva had 13 points and eight rebounds. Juan Gomez de Liano only had 10 but did a little bit of everything with 12 assists and nine rebounds for the FiberXers who improved to a 3-0 record.
Playing without its leading scorer Damian Chongqui who was ejected after throwing the ball to one of the referees, Ramon Cao stepped up and fired a PBA career-high of 41 points.
Devontre Perry had 35 points and 15 rebounds while Kobey Lam chipped in 26 for the still winless Giant Pandas.
Meanwhile, Blackwater proved its rousing debut was far from being a fluke, this time pulling the rug from under another giant in Magnolia, 89-81.
Import Kentrell Barkley took over down the stretch, scoring eight of the Bossing’s last 10 points to slam the door on the Hotshots’ comeback efforts to open the season-ending conference in a surprising 2-0 start.
Blackwater, after protecting the lead for most of the second half, suddenly found itself down by two, 79-81, with 3:58 left before Barkley spearheaded the 10-0 finishing kick.
He finished with 26 points to go with 11 rebounds and three blocks, while RK Ilagan chipped in 20 points to help the Bossing follow up their 131-106 win over Rain or Shine
Dalph Panopio contributed 12 points while Sedrick Barefield chipped in 10 for Blackwater which joined Phoenix in the early lead in the Group B standings.
KJ Buffen bounced back from a subpar debut with 32 points built on six triples while Jerom Lastimosa had 11 and Ian Sangalang with 10.
The Hotshots dropped to a 0-2 record after also losing their opener against the Fuel Masters, 86-98.
