“LEARN.”
COACH Chot Reyes of defending champion TNT recalled writing this word on the drawing board of his team’s dugout before it clashed with struggling Converge last Sunday night.
The Tropang Giga gamely responded to Reyes’ challenge and got back at the FiberXers.
“The header in our board was one word — ‘learn’,” Reyes said. “We said that this game for us was an opportunity to learn from what happened in the last game that we played Converge.
“That’s exactly what we talked about at halftime. We said we’ve been here before; this was the exact same situation we were in the last game. Up big at the half, and we allowed Converge to stick around and win the game in the end,” he added.
Reyes spoke after his charges got back at the FiberXers, fashioning a vengeful 98-91 victory for their third straight win and a piece of the lead in Group A of the PBA Governors’ Cup.
TNT stared at déjí vu — its painful 95-96 loss to Converge when they first met last Aug. 27 — after the FiberXers battled back from a 16-point hole and pulled off a Houdini when import Scotty Hopson boomed in a four-pointer that turned out to be the game-winning basket.
“We talked about how well we had to defend in the second half. But give it to them (FiberXers), they made good adjustments in the second half and like we expected, they got back in the ballgame,” Reyes, who drew 21 points, seven rebounds, and 10 assists from reigning best import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, said.
“When they made the run, all we were talking about in the huddle is we expected this.”
Rey Nambatac added 17 markers while Calvin Oftana and veterans Jayson Castro and Roger Pogoy had 14, 14, and 12, respectively, as the Tropang Giga notched a fitting follow up to a 107-89 whipping of the Terrafirma Dyip five days back and hiked their mark to 5-1 in a tie with the Meralco Bolts.
Converge absorbed its third straight loss, counting an 88-116 setback to the Bolts Wednesday last week and dropped to 2-4.
With the FiberXers threatening at 91-93 in the final 90 seconds, Castro was foremost among those who rose to the occasion, draining a clutch three-pointer late that gave TNT a 96-91 buffer.
“They made some good adjustments in the second half, particularly in the third quarter, and like we expected, they got back in the ball game. They have a very good team over there, very well-coached,” Reyes said.
“We just had to make sure that we could execute when we needed to execute, and Jayson made some great decisions down the stretch for us.”
Justin Arana powered his way with 16 points for Converge while Schonny Winston and Alec Stockton combined for 30.
Hopson and Jeo Ambohot also got 13 and 12 markers, respectively for the FiberXers.
The Tropang Giga showed Converge how to learn from jarring mistakes. Fans are now waiting for the FiberXers to do the same in their bid to stay alive in the season-opening tilt.
