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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider Converge relieved to finally exorcise old demon vs Terrafirma

Converge relieved to finally exorcise old demon vs Terrafirma

Published Jul 15, 2026 09:24 pm

At A Glance

  • It seemed like Converge had not fully gotten over its stunning loss to Terrafirma four months ago, and it remained the main driving force for the team in its 105-103 win in the PBA Season 50 Governors' Cup.

It seemed like Converge had not fully gotten over its stunning loss to Terrafirma four months ago, and it remained the main driving force for the team in its 105-103 win in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup.

Facing up against the similar upset-minded Dyip early in the conference, the FiberXers admitted that there were flashbacks of that bitter 100-111 overtime loss to Terrafirma in the Commissioner’s Cup.

In that game, Converge was in full control of the contest, leading by as many as 16 before Terrafirma went on a fiery fourth quarter run behind the efforts of Justin Strings.

The FiberXers held their ground this time around, with Justine Baltazar saving the day with a block on what could have been an overtime-sending layup.

“Tinalo kami last conference. Laging sinasabi ng mga coaches so talagang bumawi lang kami,” said Baltazar, who finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

“Kumbaga last conference kung di kami natalo sa Terrafirma baka pasok kami sa playoffs so talagang pinagtrabahuan talaga namin yung Terrafirma,” he added.

Erasing that bitter memory is also what fueled a big game from Justin Arana, who had a second-best career-high scoring of 31 points to go with 10 rebounds.

“Siyempre kailangan namin makabawi this conference. So yun talaga yung main motivation namin. Na hindi na maulit yung last conference,” echoed Arana.

For Converge head coach Dennis ‘Delta’ Pineda, meanwhile, the team faced the same issues against Terrafirma that led to the close game.

“Nakikita niyo ba kung ano yung magkamukha nung last conference sa ngayon? I mean, maybe yung import namin right now, hindi makuha yung rhythm niya. For this game, yun ang nawawala sa amin yung score nitong import namin right now,” said Pineda.

Jalen Hudson was limited to just two points on a 1-of-14 shooting from the field, including a 0-of-6 clip from distance. It was somewhat similar to the import struggles of Converge last conference when it barely had any offensive contributions from import Kylor Kelly.

Related Tags

Terrafirma Dyip Converge FiberXers Justin Arana Justine Baltazar PBA
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