Converge forces game 5

MANILA, Philippines — Fired up by its 114-112 steal in Game 3, Converge sprang another ambush on mighty San Miguel Beer.

And after running off with a huge 114-100 followup, the FiberXers dragged the Beermen to a rubber match in their PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinal duel last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Schonny Winson (26 points), Justin Arana (25) Alec Stockton (16), King Caralipio (10) and Bryan Santos (nine) did the heavy lifting with import Jalen Jones (22) stymied by foul woes as Converge made it back-to-back against a gassed SMB after trailing, 0-2.

With this impressive W, the FiberXers put themselves in prime position to complete the Last-8 reversal versus embattled San Miguel in tomorrow’s Game 5 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Converge and San Miguel will go at it one last time with Barangay Ginebra already waiting in the wings after sweeping its way to the Final Four versus Meralco.

Converge coach Franco Atienza lauded his charges’ team play in pulling through.

“We can’t go with them one-on-one. We need team defense and team offense,” said Atienza, whose squad seized control with a 37-24 salvo in the third. “It’s nice that despite the challenge of our import being in foul trouble, the locals stepped up.”

Meanwhile, Magnolia and Rain or Shine engage in a kill-or-be-killed fifth match tonight in their side of the quarterfinals.

Game time is at 7:30 p.m. at the Ynares Center in Antipolo with the winner earning the right to face defending champion TNT in the best-of-seven semifinals.The Tropang Giga got to the F4 first after finishing off NLEX in four games, 125-96, last Tuesday.

Though the Hotshots looked great in knotting the series with a 129-100 rout in Game 4, coach Chito Victolero insists this doesn’t necessarily give them the edge to the decider.

“In my opinion, there’s no such thing as momentum during the do-or-die game because both teams are eager and they have the will to overcome whatever happened in the previous games,” said Magnolia coach Chito Victolero.

“Kailangan kaming mag-step up in terms of being a little bit more aggressive defensively,” said ROS counterpart Yeng Guiao.
“And medyo ‘yung transition game namin, ‘yung running game namin, I don’t know if we’re tired or we’re a little slower or not able to get into the pace that we would usually be playing.”