PBA: George King, CJ Perez sizzle as SMB overpowers Converge

George King outplayed Jalen Hudson by a mile. PBA Images

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA—George King and CJ Perez exploded for San Miguel as it handed Converge its first loss in the PBA Governors' Cup through a 128-122 win on Wednesday night at the Ynares Center 1 in Antipolo.

King fired 41 points on 16 of 32 field goals, including 12-for-18 on twos and 2-for-5 on fours, to lead the Beermen's charge.

Perez, on the other hand, quickly came alive before finishing with 31 points on 12-for-17 shooting, including a near-perfect 5 of 6 on long-range bombs.

SMB, though, needed a third-quarter explosion, in which the team scored 41 points, to open a comfortable lead that it would hold on until the end.

King also had 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and one block as the Beermen exchanged places with the FiberXers in a tie with the NLEX Road Warriors at the top of Group A at 3-0.

Justin Arana still played like the PBA Press Corps Player of the Week that he was last week and put up 29 points on 14-for-19 field goals, five rebounds, four assists, and one block, but this time it was not enough as Converge fell to 3-1.

Balti Baltazar added 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting, 12 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks.

Almost a week after coach Delta Pineda implicitly expressed his concerns, Jalen Hudson had a decent all-around performance of 15 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three steals, but he was 6 of 16 from the field including 3 of 10 on threes.