MANILA – Justin Arana completed Converge FiberXers’ fourth quarter rally with a game-winner. They escaped Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 102-101, in the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Trailing 98-101 with under a minute left following a basket by Painters’ Ryan Pearson, Quincy Miller pulled the FiberXers closer at 100-101 with an inside conversion with 43 seconds left.
Following a missed basket by the Rain or Shine on the other end, Converge snagged the advantage for good with 15 seconds left on an inside penetration by Arana from an inbound pass by Miller.
Jeron Teng led the way with 20 points, including two outside hits. Miller added 19 markers despite misfiring on all of his six three-point attempts to go with 20 rebounds as the FiberXers rolled to its seventh straight win for an 8-2 win-loss slate.
Arana, for his part, contributed 16 markers for the quarterfinals-bound FiberXers, while Abu Tratter, Aljun Melecio, Regile Ilagan and Maverick Ahanmisi ended up with identical 11 markers.
Down by as much as 17 points at 71-88 early in the fourth quarter, the FiberXers slowly clawed its way back on consecutive points from Teng, Arana and Ahanmisi to cut the deficit to 82-91.
The Painters increased the lead back to 96-84 on a Gabe Norwood triple, but the FiberXers charged back anew with back-to-back treys by Ilagan and free throws by Ahanmisi to cut the deficit further to 98-99.
Pearson ended with double-double 25 points and 10 rebounds, rookie Gian Mamuyac added career-high 24 points, while Anton Asistio, Andrei Caracut and Rey Nambatac had 16, 11 and 10 markers, respectively, as the Painters dropped to 4-6.
In the first game, Bay Area Dragons cruised to another lopsided win as it dominated the hapless NLEX Road Warriors, 118-98. The Dragons remained at second place with 8-2, while the Road Warriors dropped to 3-6.
Myles Powell spearheaded the Dragons anew with 36 points, including three triples, Glenn Yang chipped in 15 markers, while Hayden Blankley posted 13 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.
BOX SCORE:
CONVERGE 102 – Teng 20, Miller 19, Arana 16, Melecio 11, Tratter 11, Ilagan 11, Ahanmisi 11, Stockton 3, Digregorio 0, Ambohot 0, Racal 0, Tolomia 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 101 – Pearson 25, Mamuyac 24, Asistio 16, Caracut 11, Nambatac 10, Santillan 6, Belga 4, Norwood 3, Demusis 2, Borboran 0.
Quarterscores: 25-27, 55-57, 69-84, 102-101./PN
