IN a fierce duel between two high-scoring imports, TNT’s Jalen Hudson had the last laugh over Converge counterpart Jamaal Franklin yesterday.
Hudson scored 56 points as the Tropang Giga humbled the FiberXers 128-122 for their fourth win in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
After scoring 34 points in TNT’s 123-119 win over Phoenix last Jan. 25, the 6-foot-6 Hudson, who went undrafted in the 2019 NBA draft, engaged Franklin in a torrid shootout, uncorking 20 in the first quarter, 13 in the second, 11 in the third and 12 in the fourth.
Hudson, who saw action in the G League and Europe, had six three-pointers on top of 12 rebounds and four assists to outshine Franklin, who carried the fight for the FiberXers with 47 points.
“I just tried to be aggressive. My teammates gave me confidence and going into today I knew it’s a big game for us and for them as well,” Hudson said. “You gotta give credit to Converge. They’re a good team, a top four, five team in the league.”
Mikey Williams chipped in 19 markers, five boards and two dimes, Roger Pogoy added 18 and five, while Paul Varilla and Jayson Castro had 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Tropang Giga, who did an encore to their 93-85 triumph over Magnolia six days ago and hiked their mark to 4-1.
Converge, coming off a 112-98 dumping of Rain or Shine last Thursday, absorbed its first loss in the season-ending tourney for a 4-1 card.
TNT coach Jojo Lastimosa gave his charges plaudits for showing resolve against the gritty FiberXers.
“We were having a difficult time containing their transition (attack). It was a huge talking point on how to stop that even before the game. That was really the game plan– to slow them down,” Lastimosa said. “Apparently, somehow, they’re used to play fast paced but the good thing is we were able to keep in step with them throughout the game.
“We were down by I think as much as eight points, but we were able to catch up. I just thought that the guys fought hard. It might be indicated in the scores but every point that we got, we earned it,” he added.
The Tropang Giga fell 64-65 at the half and trailed by as much as 82-91 after Converge guard Maverick Ahanmisi’s two free throws at the 4:48 mark of the third canto but managed to raze the deficit to 93-94 heading into the payoff period.
A Mikey Williams triple capped a 9-0 blitz that gave TNT a 98-94 edge with 11:10 to go.
The Tropang Giga padded their lead to as much as 120-108 on a vicious slam dunk by Kelly Williams, only 2:30 remaining.
Franklin also had 14 caroms and seven feeds, while Ahanmisi had 21 markers, eight rebounds and four assists.
Abu Tratter and Justin Arana also combined for 21 points for Converge.
