MANILA, Philippines — It’s becoming a regular occurrence for Converge in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup: Justin Arana taking his bow as Player of the Game.
He did it not once, not twice, but thrice in a row.
Arana’s latest exploits saw him banging in a new career high of 39 points that he laced with 12 rebounds and three assists and anchoring the FiberXers’ 149-124 romp over Macau last night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The 6-foot-7 bruiser reset his personal mark – as well as the franchise’s scoring standard – barely two nights after producing a 31-11 in their 105-103 escape act over Terrafirma. Prior to his back-to-back 30-pointers, Arana had 14-5 in Converge’s opening 105-74 beating of Titan.
“Wala naman special. Kina-counter ko lang ano’ng depensa ang binibigay sa akin,” he said.
“Binibigay ko lang at ng mga teammates ko ang best dahil ayaw namin maulit yung last conference,” he added, referring to the squad’s failure to advance to the playoffs in the Commissioner’s Cup.
So intense was this desire to win that Arana engaged in a heated exchange with Archie Concepcion on their bench late in the game over a defensive play.
“Nagkasagutan lang pero wala naman, hindi naman big deal ‘yun,” he stressed.
Mikey Williams (16), Alec Stockton (15), Justine Baltazar (13) and Calvin Abueva (13) complemented the monster game of Arana and helped send Converge to a share of the Group A lead with NLEX (3-0) despite another quiet outing from import Jalen Hudson.
Hudson scattered 12 versus the Giant Pandas (0-3) after his meager two-point showing against the Dyip.
Later, Kentrell Barkley (26-10) and RK Ilagan (20) showed the way as Blackwater upstaged Magnolia, 89-81 to catch Phoenix atop Group B at 2-0. The Hotshots fell to 0-2.