COACH Aldin Ayo admitted Converge veered away from his gameplan in the first three quarters against a gritty Rain or Shine crew last Sunday night.
But after he took his charges to task, they woke up and were aptly rewarded with handsome dividends.
“In the first three quarters, we were sluggish, and there were players who were trying to divert from the things that we usually execute,” Ayo said. “Good thing that during the fourth quarter, we were able to execute our game plan.
“I told the players during the break before the fourth quarter, I told them that we put ourselves into this situation, ‘Make sure that we recover.’ I don’t care if we’re going to get tired or anything, but just squeeze everything that you’ve got,” he added.
The FiberXers carved out a nail-biting 102-101 decision over the Elasto Painters for their seventh straight win and gained a quarterfinals slot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
Jeron Teng scattered 20 points laced with four rebounds and three assists for Converge, while import Quincy Miller added 19 markers, 20 boards, and five dimes.
FiberXers’ rookie big man Justin Arana had 16 points, including a short stab inside the paint off Rain or Shine’s Leonard Santillan that turned out to be the game winning basket in the last 15.1 ticks.
RK Ilagan, Maverick Ahanmisi, Abu Tratter, and Aljun Melecio also produced 11 markers each as Converge completed its fightback from a 71-88 deficit in the final canto that served as a fitting follow-up to a 132-127 triumph over Phoenix six days ago and rose to 8-2 in a tie with Bay Area.
The Painters, coming off an 87-120 setback to the Dragons last Friday, tumbled to 4-6.
Ayo understandably gushed on his young team for showing they have what it takes.
“It just so happens na nagre-respond iyong mga player, and it just so happens na magaling iyong import namin. It just so happened na iyong mga player, committed doon sa ginagawa namin,” Ayo said.
“We’re in our third month together now. Nandoon na, may habit na, and we have to stick with the system, and try to be better in doing it.”
Reinforcement Ryan Pearson paced Rain or Shine with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and two feeds, while Gian Mamuyac had 24 markers and three boards.
Anton Asistio, Andrei Caracut, and Rey Nambatac also had 16, 11, and 10 points, respectively, for the Painters.
