The Terrafirma Dyip won’t be mistaken for a contender any time soon. In fact, they probably won’t win many games in PBA Season 50—or maybe ever until they’re bought by another company. But this batch of Dyip definitely has Converge FiberXers coach Delta Pineda’s respect.
After Converge rolled all over Terrafirma on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Pineda admitted he was somewhat worried heading into the FiberXers’ encounter with the Dyip. And his biggest worry, he told the press, was overconfidence creeping into his wards. It certainly looked that way in the first quarter, when wave after wave of Dyip players got into the scoring column in a high-scoring start that saw Terrafirma win the first 12 minutes, 30-29.
“‘Yung magkumpiyansa mga players namin. Sabi ko nga, ang Terrafirma lahat ng players may authority to score kaya ang hirap pa rin bantayan,” Pineda pointed out in the postgame presser. “Nakita niyo how close ‘yung first half natin. Talagang ‘yung 1, 2, 3, to 4 stay home on defense talaga. No help muna. Kasi we never know kung sinong pupukol, sinong i-score. ‘Yan ‘yung talagang worry ko sa kanila…”
In all, seven Terrafirma players finished in double digits led by Jerrick Ahanmisi’s 16 and Louie Sangalang’s 15. That firepower, though, wasn’t enough against the FiberXers.
New Boys Give Converge New-Found Depth
Terrafirma’s superb effort wasn’t enough mostly because Converge had too much firepower of its own. Put simply, the FiberXers were just too good—and they definitely got better when Larry Muyang, Archie Concepcion, and John Lloyd Clemente were activated in time for Converge’s game against the Dyip.
Muyang, Clemente, and Concepcion combined for 23 points off the Converge bench, which suddenly became one of the deepest in the PBA. With the starters—Justine Baltazar, Justin Arana, Kevin Racal, Juan Gomez de Liaño, and Alec Stockton—and Schonny Winston doing their thing, too, even the Dyip’s best efforts proved to be wanting in the face of the FiberXers’ strong connections.
Small wonder Pineda is thankful that he’s got more options now—as if he didn’t have much going with Baltazar, Arana, Stockton, Gomez de Liaño, Winston, and Racal as his main six.
That newfound depth helped Converge handle Terrafirma pretty easily. But tougher challenges are no doubt looming real soon for the reinforced FiberXers.
