ANTIPOLO CITY. — “Divine intervention.”
Those were the first words that Converge interim coach Franco Atienza uttered after his charges pulled off a gutsy come-from-behind victory over a shellshocked Magnolia side Sunday night.
Showing they wanted it more, the FiberXers nipped the Hotshots 93-91 to get back on track in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Ynares Center here.
Atienza had all the reasons to point out that the cage gods had a hand in their epic win and thanks mainly to rising star Alec Stockton.
The 6-foot-1 Stockton boomed in a three-pointer that knotted the count at 91-all with 43.7 seconds remaining.
After Magnolia’s Zavier Lucero muffed a jumper in the ensuing play, Stockton rose for the rebound, orchestrated Converge’s offensive attack, and found a wide-open Justine Arana for an uncosted layup that pegged the final count, only 5.8 ticks left.
Arana bumped into Stockton’s chest while their teammates rejoiced from the bench.
The Hotshots still had a chance to foil the FiberXers’ gritty fightback from a 20-point third-quarter hole, but Jerrick Ahanmisi’s last-gasp triple try missed the mark at the buzzer.
“All glory to God and it’s nice when you have a team, a management that is really backing you up. It says a lot about our culture. It’s from the top management down to the coaches and players,” Atienza said. “We just grinded it out. We were down 15 at the half, 20 in the third, they (Hotshots) are perennial title contenders with a champion coach, a champion team laden with talent.
“We were lucky to escape this game, but the biggest thing is we leveraged our system. We could not have gotten the win if we played individually,” he added.
Arana wound up with 24 points and seven rebounds for Converge while Stockton barely missed a triple-double with 18 markers, seven boards, and 10 assists.
Import Cheick Diallo was held to just 10 points although he grabbed 16 caroms while Kevin Racal added 10 and two as the FiberXers atoned for a 106-117 loss to foreign guest team Eastern last Friday and improved to 2-1.
Magnolia, which played without veteran forward Calvin Abueva due to a neck injury he suffered in the Hotshots’ 118-110 triumph over the Blackwater Bossing last Thursday, slipped to 1-1 early in the mid-season tilt.
Converge fell 38-53 at the half and 45-65 on a Lucero layup at the 6:55 mark of the third period.
The FiberXers cut the deficit to 67-75 heading into the final stanza.
Magnolia appeared to have the win in the bag after reinforcement Ricardo Ratliffe pushed the Hotshots’ lead to 89-81 with 3:32 to go.
Ratliffe paced Magnolia with 25 points and 19 rebounds while rookie Jerom Lastimosa had 14 markers.
Ian Sangalang, Ahanmisi, Paul Lee, and Luceo also got 12, 12, 10, and 10 points, respectively for the Hotshots.
A big character victory for Converge—something it wants to gain handsome dividends from as the conference progresses.
