Message sent With triple-double-making rookie Juan Gomez de Liaño as spearhead, Converge issued a strong warning to the regular contenders with a 129-92 shrinking of Titan Ultra in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup last night at Ynares-Montalban.
Flexing their powered-up crew after a massive pre-season buildup, the FiberXers under new coach Delta Pineda stormed to an early 16-5 upperhand.
That sizzling start and dominant play of Converge plus the sidelining of Titan leader Calvin Abueva at the 7:38 mark of the first canto threw off the Giant Risers, who couldn’t get into groove like they did in their previous 100-96 upset of Meralco and fell to 1-1.
Abueva was a big difference in the memorable debut of the league’s newest ball club last Wednesday, firing a career-high 41, but he managed only two in over four minutes before going out with a tight right hamstring versus the FiberXers.
De Liaño, the No. 2 pick overall in the draft, turned in a sparkling 15-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist output to become the first freshman to produce a triple-double in his maiden appearance. It’s also a first for a rookie since Scottie Thompson posted that statline in 2016.
Justin Arana similarly dished out a career milestone, banging in 28 and grabbing a new personal best 22 boards in his first 20-20 game in the league.
They were surrounded by strong performances from Schonny Winston (16), Alec Stockton (13) and Kevin Racal (12 on a 4-of-5 clip from deep) as the FiberXers gifted Pineda the honors of posting the biggest winning margin of 37 for a debuting PBA coach.
”Yung pacing ng game na gusto namin – mabilis – nagawa ng mga bata. And I think they enjoyed the game and ‘yan ang pinakamahalaga doon,’ said Pineda.
De Liaño deflected credit, saying it was a great performance all across the board.
‘It’s a total team effort and I give props and credit to our coaching staff and especially our players. We’re able to execute the game plan and we focused a lot on defense and I think we emphasized that really, really well today,’ he said.
Josh Munzon carried the load for Titan with 31, but caught fire late and dropped 18 of them in the final period.
Notes: Veteran guard Maverick Ahanmisi is set to leave Barangay Ginebra soon. Ahanmisi, who lurked in the bench behind Scottie Thompson and RJ Abarientos, shared he had approached team governor Alfrancis Chua and asked for a trade and received a positive response. ‘As a player, you want the opportunity to showcase your talent, so it’s kind of a fine line between being patient and waiting your turn. But I just turned 34. I’m now at the back half of my career. There’s not much time to waste for me,’ he said in a video posted on social media. It’s not immediately revealed where Ahanmisi is headed next.