Jeron Teng and the FiberXers ran rings across the protection of Kelley Williams and the Tropang Giga. —PBA IMAGES
Converge coach Aldin Ayo has now steered his squad to 3 straight victories—every towards coaches with wealthy championship pedigree.
However on Friday, the younger mentor credited the workforce’s newest triumph within the Philippine Basketball Affiliation (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup to the best way his gamers have grown accustomed to the model of play he needs to run.
“The players are slowly absorbing what we are doing,” Ayo mentioned after the FiberXers as soon as once more quickened the tempo that resulted in a shocking 130-117 outcome towards the TNT Tropang Giga at Good Araneta Coliseum.
Future Converge opponents might now have to check that type and tempo intently, particularly after the FiberXers breached the century mark with plenty of time to spare within the third quarter and flirted with tying the league mark for many threes in a single sport.
Converge completed with 21 triples Friday night time, three shy of the file, with import Quincy Miller draining on the best way to 38 factors.
‘Keep up the pace’
Jeron Teng (conference-high 22 factors), Aljun Melecio (20 factors), Justine Arana (14 factors), Mike DiGregorio (13 factors) and RK Ilagan (eight assists) additionally carried out effectively throughout the contest that noticed Converge lead by a excessive of 35.
“Everybody knows that we’re gonna have to keep up the pace and that’s what the players are starting to get better at,” Ayo mentioned.
The FiberXers have now reached the midway level of the elimination spherical on a 4-2 (win-loss) slate. A type of two losses got here towards visitor workforce Bay Space, which Converge pushed to the restrict earlier than yielding, 106-100.
29 championships
After that loss to the Dragons, Converge has strung up three straight wins towards groups dealt with by coaches who’ve a mixed 29 championships. In his first convention within the PBA, Ayo has crushed in succession Meralco’s Norman Black, San Miguel Beer’s Leo Austria and TNT’s Chot Reyes.
“He’s one of the coaches that I look up to,” Ayo mentioned of Reyes, additionally the Gilas Pilipinas coach. “He’s probably one of the reasons why I love coaching. He’s an inspiration.”
TNT’s protection couldn’t corral Converge’s speedy offense and the Tropang Giga had been left with a lot to ponder as they dropped to 3-3 on the halfway mark of the event.
“Obviously, we got our ass kicked,” rued Reyes, who allowed Converge to attain 43 within the first quarter, 73 on the half and 113 by the tip of the third which had been all new marks for the rookie franchise.
“Our offense wasn’t bad. We scored 117 points, we had only 10 turnovers [and] shot 50 percent total. It’s not bad at all,” Reyes identified. “But our defense really left a lot to be desired.”
TNT, with import Cameron Oliver scoring 41 and Mikey Williams including 27, did scale back the massive margin right down to 9, solely when victory was just about within the bag for Converge.
That was in all probability the foremost level Ayo and the FiberXers are nonetheless making an attempt to determine.
“I know that we get tired on offense because we keep on running,” he mentioned. “That’s one thing we have to address because if we cannot keep up with our defense, we will have problems on our offense.”
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