Producing a triple-double is becoming a habit for Converge rookie sensation Juan Gomez de Liaño in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup.
Barely 11 days after his history-making ‘3-D’ freshman debut, Gomez de Liaño stuffed the stats sheets anew to help the FiberXers to a 125-108 romp over the Terrafirma Dyip last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
In an encore of his milestone 15-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist game in the team’s opening 129-92 rout of Titan last Oct. 11, Gomez de Liaño delivered a brilliant 17-10-12 as he joined forces with Twin Towers Justin Arana and Justin Baltazar and Alec Stockton in stalling the Dyip and bringing Converge back on track after their 103-110 loss to TNT last time.
Arana (13-12) and Baltazar (12-11) dished out a double-double each while Stockton fired a game-high 22 as the FiberXers climbed to 2-1 for a share of the lead with idle TNT and Magnolia.
‘We were all on the same page. Coming from the tough loss to TNT, our mindset is pretty much on bringing a lot of energy and effort and that’s what we did collectively,’ said Gomez de Liaño.
Truly, it was collective with off-the-bench players MJ Garcia (15), Schonny Winston (14), and tournament debutants Larry Muyang (10) and John Lloyd Clemente (10) providing a lot of support.
‘Ni-remind ko po sila everyone coming from the bench needs to step up. Everytime mag-pull out ako sa bench, they need to contribute. Good thing, most of them nag-contribute,’ said Converge coach Delta Pineda.