CONVERGE came out with all guns a-blazing to trounce hapless Terrafirma, 116-87, Wednesday in a match kicking off the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the PhilSports Arena.
Cheick Diallo notched 25 points and 16 rebounds in leading the FiberXers' romp that began taking shape as early as the opening quarter and gained full momentum as the game wore on.
Justin Arana, Bryan Santos, Mike Nieto, rookie Jordan Heading, Alec Stockton and Schonny Winston also shone the brightest for Converge, which came tantalizingly close to at least duplicating its franchise-best 32-point drubbing of the same team two months ago.
Coach Franco Atienza was obviously pleased with the all-around performance his charges showed in shooting 43-of-83 from the field, including 14-of-32 from 3s, and posting a 70-35 dominance off the boards.
"More than the win, more than the score, we look at the process, we look at how we played today," said Atienza.
Sponsored content:
"Basing on the stats... it's just a good overall game for us," added Atienza. "Good first game. I think we dictated the pace pretty well, the guys are in sync, at least for this first game."
Helping along Converge's cause was Terrafirma's decision to put Terrence Romeo and Vic Manuel, acquired from San Miguel Beer just last Monday, on the sidelines along with the injured Christian Standhardinger.
Rookie CJ Catapusan notched 13 points and Stanley Pringle 11 to pace the Dyip but import Ryan Richards submitting only 10 points on a 5-of-16 field shooting clearly told on the team's bid to give new head coach Raymond Tiongco a rousing debut.
The 6-11, 250-lb Richards, who did haul down 10 rebounds, was also unable to match and even adjust to the game's oftentimes fast pace, forcing Tiongco to sit the British-Jamaican for lengthy stretches in the second half.
After falling behind by as much as 21 points early, Terrafirma did stage a fightback and managed to trim the deficit to eight points twice in the third period, the last at 62-70.
Sponsored content:
But Kevin Racal's corner 3 sparked a massive 16-2 assault that put Converge up by 86-64 before Jeo Ambohot put the finishing touches to the rout with back-to-back triples that gave the FiberXers as much as a 116-83 spread.
"We were able to put the game to where we wanted it to." said Atienza before pointing out that the one-sided win is no gauge for where his team's campaign might end up.
"It's really early, it's nothing, just the first game," insisted Atienza. (NC)
The Scores :
CONVERGE - Diallo 25, Arana 16, Santos 12, Nieto 11, Heading 8, Winston 7, Stockton 7, Ambohot 6, Fleming 6, Andrade 5, Racal 5, Fornilos 3, Javillonar 3, Santos 2, Cabagnot 0.
TERRAFIRMA - Catapusan 13, Sangalang 11, Pringle 11, Nonoy 11, Richards 10, Carino 8, Hernandez 6, Ramos 5, Melecio 4, Paraiso 3, Ferrer 3, Zaldivar 2, Hanapi 2.
QUARTERS : 34-16, 59-42, 86-67, 116-87
