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| Balti Baltazar had a career game to lead Converge to a much-important win against NLEX. PBA Images |
MANILA--Converge fought back in the final three minutes of regulation before dominating the overtime period for a 107-95 win against NLEX in a crucial PBA Philippine Cup battle on Wednesday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
With a shot at a twice-to-beat advantage at stake, the FiberXers, down 77-82 with 3:24 left in the fourth quarter, on an 8-0 run to take an 85-82 lead with 1:18 to go.
The Road Warriors still managed to tie the game at 85-all, but a Balti Baltazar three-point play gave the FiberXers the lead back, 88-85, with 31.1 seconds remaining in regulation.
Alec Stockton had a chance to seal Converge's win in regulation, but he missed two free throws out of four, and Jonnel Policarpio hit a tough four-pointer at the final buzzer to force overtime.
However, that turned out to be NLEX's last gasp as Converge outscored them, 17-3, for most of the overtime session before conceding a late Kevin Alas layup.
Baltazar finished with a PBA career-high 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting, 24 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks for the FiberXers, who finished the elimination round at 7-4.
Juan Gomez De Liano added a triple-double of 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists, and four steals as they now hope for remaining results to favor them to clinch a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals.
Vic Manuel, in his first PBA game back after spending most of 2025 with Pangasinan in the MPBL, had five points and two rebounds in nearly seven minutes of action.
Kevin Alas led NLEX, which dropped out of the Top 4 race after falling to 6-5, with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists, and one steal.
Already at the thick of things in the twice-to-beat race before Robert Bolick accepted the Gilas Pilipinas call-up for the Southeast Asian Games, the Road Warriors will now need to win twice in the quarterfinals this Christmas to make the semifinals in January.
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