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| Schonny Winston scorched in crunch time to lead Converge's late breakaway from San Miguel. PBA Images |
MANILA—Converge kept its slim chances of making the Top 4 in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals alive after staving off San Miguel, 100-97, on Wednesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The FiberXers, who blew an 18-point lead, fought back within the final 3:15 of the game to steal the win from the Beermen.
Down 89-93 entering the last three and a half minutes, Schonny Winston scored on back-to-back perimeter shots to give Converge a 94-93 lead.
JL De los Santos and King Caralipio completed the team's 10-0 run by scoring the other five points for a 99-93 cushion with 1:02 to go.
Don Trollano kept SMB alive with a four-pointer even as the team forced a miss from Winston at the other end.
However, the FiberXers' defense forced a 24-second violation on the Beermen, getting the ball back with 7.6 seconds to go.
Delos Santos still got to milk the clock before Marcio Lassiter fouled him with 3.3 seconds left, but Delos Santos split his charities, giving SMB more options on how to approach the last play.
The team decided to force overtime, but CJ Perez missed a corner three before the final buzzer sounded.
Winston finished with 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting, four rebounds, four assists, two steals, and one block to lead Converge, which finished the eliminations at 7-4.
Justin Arana added 21 points, two rebounds, and three assists as the team now awaits the other results to see if it will eventually make the Top 4 or not.
Perez and June Mar Fajardo each scored 17 markers with the latter grabbing 22 rebounds for SMB, which missed out on taking the top spot and fell to 7-3.
The team can still boost its chances of getting the top seed if it beats NorthPort on Sunday night at the Ynares Center 1 in Antipolo.
The Scores:
CONVERGE 100 – Winston 25, Arana 21, Delos Santos 13, Stockton 7, Baltazar 7, R. Santos 6, B.Santos 6, Garcia 5, Racal 3, Caralipio 2, Corpuz 0
SAN MIGUEL 97 – Fajardo 17, Perez 17, Tautuaa 14, Tiongson 13, Rosales 11, Cruz 8, Teng 4, Trollano 4, Lassiter 3, Cahilig 3, Brondial 3, Ross 0
QUARTERS: 19-12, 53-37, 70-68, 100-97
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