MANILA – Converge FiberXers kicked off its 2024-25 PBA Commissioner’s Cup campaign with a dominant 116-87 victory over Terrafirma Dyip last night at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Mike Nieto displayed quality performance with 11 points, on 3-of-4 field goal shooting, in 15 minutes to be named Player of the Game as the FiberXers opened the mid-season conference on a winning note.
“We are just enjoying every moment, as you can see in the game earlier, hopefully this team chemistry will result in us getting more victories this conference,” Nieto said in a post-game interview.
Cheick Diallo led the way with a double-double of 25 points and 16 rebounds, Justin Arana added a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Bryan Santos contributed 12 markers for the FiberXers.
Holding to a 63-53 early in the third quarter, the FiberXers broke the game wide open behind inside conversions by Diallo and Arana and outside shots from Santos for an 86-67 advantage.
The FiberXers continued their onslaught in the fourth quarter with connections from Alec Stockton, Jordan Heading, and Kamron Vigan-Fleming as the lead reached its largest at 33 points at 116-83.
“It is a good overall game for us, I think we dictated the tempo of this game, and all the players are in sync with our plays,” FiberXers head coach Franco Atienza said in a post-game interview.
“We hope to do better kasi mukhang maganda naman development namin from the last conference,” he added. “We are excited to show kung ano natutunan namin and how we connect those dito sa mid-season.”
Conrad Catapusan finished with 13 points, Mark Sangalang, Stanley Pringle, and Mark Nonoy added 11 markers apiece, while Ryan Richards had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Dyip./PN
BOX SCORE:
CONVERGE – Diallo 25, Arana 16, Santos 12, Nieto 11, Heading 8, Winston 7, Stockton 7, Ambohot 6, Fleming 6, Andrade 5, Racal 5, Fornilos 3, Javillonar 3, Santos 2, Cabagnot 0.
TERRAFIRMA – Catapusan 13, Sangalang 11, Pringle 11, Nonoy 11, Richards 10, Carino 8, Hernandez 6, Ramos 5, Melecio 4, Paraiso 3, Ferrer 3, Zaldivar 2, Hanapi 2.
Quarterscores: 34-16, 59-42, 86-67, 116-87.
