CALL it a tale of second chances—a lifeline for Converge and a fitting redemption for rising star Alec Stockton in Game 3 of the PBA Governors’ Cup best-of-5 quarterfinals last Monday night.

Stockton appeared to have bowed out early on when a flagrant foul penalty two was initially called against him for elbowing San Miguel Beer guard Kris Rosales with 0.6 left in the first quarter.

In a move that left the Beermen coaching staff and everyone at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila perplexed, game officials downgraded the F2 call to an F1 that allowed Stockton to stay in the match.

“I thought it was over for me,” Stockton said. “Shout out to the referees, man, for changing the call. I wouldn’t be here.

 “Coach told us if we’re gonna go down in the game, we wanna go down swinging. We had nothing to lose, we’re done 0-2. and we just kept fighting. We just didn’t give up whatever got thrown into our way,” he added.

But the stunners did not stop there.

The FiberXers completed a gripping rally from 27 points down and eked out a 114-112 cliffhanger over the Beermen to stay alive and trim the series deficit to 1-2.

The hero of the tiff?

With atonement written on his eyes in the last 6.0 seconds after his ill-advised foul on Marcio Lassiter who sank three free throws allowed SMB to tie, Stockton got the inbound pass from Alex Cabagnot and, after a series of crossovers, aimed at the ring off the outstretched arm of SMB star CJ Perez.

Before the buzzer sounded, the ball found the bottom of the net that sent the Converge faith into frenzy.

“We were up by three, I almost cost us the game, I knew I had to do something. I’m just glad I made the shot. We got another chance on Friday,” Stockton said as the FiberXers forced a fourth game this Friday at the same venue but also won the franchise’s first playoff game.

“I’m speechless. Coach (Franco Atienza) drew it up for me. He trusted me to take the last shot, so I just believed in my shot. I’ve been working on that shot after every practice, so I just thank God that it came out this game.”

Justin Arana showed the way for Converge with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists while Stockton finished with 20 markers, seven boards and eight dimes.

Import Jalen Jones, Bryan Santos, King Caralipio, and Schonny Winston also had 17, 15, 11, and 10 points, respectively, as the FiberXers made up for a 100-107 loss in Game 2 four nights ago.

“There are two words that we’re holding on to. First thing is hope. We were down, 0-2 but we’re not yet out. There is still hope, however slim that is,” Atienza said.

“The second word is grit, and when you put hope and grit together, you give yourself a chance to win the game.

“This is just one of the three wins that we need. If you think about it, it’s hard to beat that time three straight, but we’ll take it one game muna.”

Converge needs two more big wins to turn around its campaign in the season-opening tilt. Can the FiberXers connect?