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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Young guns connive as Converge keeps TNT winless

Young guns connive as Converge keeps TNT winless

Published Apr 27, 2025 02:13 pm

At A Glance

  • The young guns of Converge bared their fangs and kept the Grand Slam-chasing TNT winless with an impressive 100-94 victory in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Sunday, April 27.

The young guns of Converge bared their fangs and kept the Grand Slam-chasing TNT winless with an impressive 100-94 victory in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Sunday, April 27.

PBA Images7 (93).jpg

The score in the endgame hardly reflected how dominant the FiberXers were as they led by as many as 22 points early on before doing just enough to fend off a second-half fightback from the Tropang Giga to improve to a 3-2 record.

Converge displayed a textbook inside-outside assault with its youthful and vaunted twin towers in Justin Arana and Justine Baltazar taking care of business while the fast and shifty backcourt of Alec Stockton and Schonny Winston did damage on the perimeter and drives.

Both Arana and Baltazar finished with double-doubles with the former posting 22 points and 11 rebounds while the latter had 21 and 12. 

Winston and Stockton were perfect complement, chipping in 19 points apiece for Converge which strung together its first win streak in the All-Filipino Cup.

The balanced attack also helped the FiberXers overcome a 33-point explosion of Calvin Oftana.

TNT, gunning for the third jewel of the season after winning it all in the first two conferences, slid to a 0-2 record after yet another slow start in the game. 

Seemingly still in a championship hangover, TNT, like its opener against NLEX, started out flat in the opening frame – an opportunity that a feisty and hungry team like Converge would not pass on.

Converge immediately seized a double-digit lead and even sustained it until the intermission where it enjoyed a 53-35 spread.

TNT did get some headway in the third when it managed to cut the lead down to six, 65-71, heading into the final frame but that proved to be the closest the Tropang Giga could get as Arana, Baltazar and Stockton easily restored order.

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