CONVERGE reserve wingman Inand Fornilos rose for an offensive rebound off a missed free throw by teammate and fellow back-up Kamron Vigan-Fleming and scored on a putback late against Terrafirma last night.
With those kinds of plays typifying their desire, the FiberXers dumped the Dyip 116-87 for an auspicious start in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.
Fornilos’ basket earned cheers from Converge’s bench and gave the FiberXers a 106-79 spread with 3:41 to go in the match that kicked off the pro league’s mid-season tourney.
NorthPort collides with NLEX on the meet’s second day today while Blackwater tests the mettle of Magnolia at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
FiberXers interim coach Franco Atienza was pleased with the way his charges played in their initial test.
“As I’ve mentioned before the game, more than the win, more than the scorecard, we look at the process, how we played today. Based on the stats, we shot 51 percent from the field, we outrebounded them (Dyip) by half, we had good numbers in assists,” Atienza said. “It’s just a good overall game for us. Good first game, I think we dictated the pace really well.
“The guys were in sync at least in this first game, not taking away from the other team. They have a good system, and they played good also but more than that we were able to put the game where we wanted to,” he added.
Import Cheick Diallo wound up with game-highs of 25 points and 16 rebounds, to go with two assists for Converge, while Justin Arana ably backed him up with 16 markers, 12 boards, and four dimes.
Bryan Santos and Mike Nieto also had 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the FiberXers while prized new addition Jordan Heading had eight markers and six feeds in his debut in Asia’s first play-for-pay league.
Atienza’s squad zoomed to a 59-42 edge at the half and was still comfortably ahead 86-67 going into the fourth canto.
A Jeo Ambohot three-pointer gave Converge its biggest advantage 116-83, only 1:12 remaining.
Rookie CJ Catapusan paced Terrafirma with 13 points and six rebounds while Louie Sangalang, Stanley Pringle, and freshman Mark Nonoy added 11, 11, and 11 markers, respectively.
Reinforcement Ryan Richards got 10 for the Dyip who played without new acquisitions Terrence Romeo (assortment of injuries) and Vic Manuel (undisclosed illness).
Getting off to a fast start will mean nothing if the FiberXers fail to sustain it.
