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Abarrientos catches fire as Ginebra trounces Converge to force sudden death

Sports | Basketball

Abarrientos catches fire as Ginebra trounces Converge to force sudden death

By Reynald I. Magallon

At A Glance

RJ Abarrientos caught fire from deep to help Barangay Ginebra live to fight for another day with a 105-85 rout of Converge in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Thursday, Dec. 25.

RJ Abarrientos caught fire from deep to help Barangay Ginebra live to fight for another day with a 105-85 rout of Converge in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Thursday, Dec. 25.

The shifty playmaker made sure to give the huge Christmas Day crowd a treat with his scintillating shooting that saw him bury six triples — none bigger than the five during the second half when the Kings pulled away for good.

Abarrientos was on fire with a career-high 35 points while Scottie Thompson complemented him well with a triple-double of 13 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists all while limiting Juan Gomez de Liano to just nine points.

The Converge super rookie actually hit the first seven points for his team but was held to just two points the rest of the way.

It also didn’t help that Alec Stockton and Justin Arana were saddled with foul troubles all game long as Converge was forced to use its second life to try to wrap the series up in the sudden-death Game 2.

Still, despite the struggles, Converge actually held on to the lead at intermission, 42-41. The FiberXers, however, struggled to find answers to the hot hands of Abarrientos, who at one point, had three triples that stretched Ginebra’s lead to 88-75 in the final frame.

Justine Baltazar and Schonny Winston provided the bright spot for Converge with the former finishing with 19 points and 13 rebounds while the latter chipped in 14.

Stockton was held to 12 points in 20 minutes of play while Arana could only muster six in limited time due to quick four fouls.

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