By Peter Atencio
The Converge FiberXers got things done right in the third quarter to cruise to a 127-95 thumping of the Terrafirma Dyip on Wednesday evening in the 49th Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Aranera Coliseum.
Their outside shooting found their mark and the fast-paced tempo kicked into high gear as the FiberXers posted their first triumph in Group A.
Scotty Hopson showed the way with a monster 46 points and seven rebounds for the FiberXers, who now share the lead with the TNT Tropang Giga and the Meralco Bolts.
This allowed the FiberXers to spoil the debut of Christian Standhardinger and Stanley Pringle
The FiberXers blew the game wide open in the third quarter with their 47-point output, led by Hopson, who tallied 12 points.
“It was a team effort. They have good players, Standhardinger and Pringle. But, we defended well,” said FiberXers’ new coach Franco Atienza, with Charles Tiu and Rajko Toroman as his first assistant and team consultant.
Triples from Kevin Racal and Stockton got the Fiber Xers away from a 53-49 halftime lead, and into a 60-49 spread with the 7-0 run.
The FiberXers went on to post their biggest lead, 100-67, in the last two seconds of third off Deschon Winston’s layup.
Converge played without Justine Baltazar, the FiberXers’ top overall pick overall in the last rookie draft. Baltazar is still playing out his contract with the Pampanga Giant Lanterns in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.
