Converge's Arana powers way to weekly PBA player honors
MANILA, Philippines — Justin Arana has cranked up his game as Converge got the ball rolling for its redemption tour in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup.
As he skillfully served his role as one of the FiberXers’ main men, Arana delivered back-to-back 30-10 games, sparking the team past Terrafirma, 105-103, and Macau, 149-124, en route to 3-0 and a share of the Group A lead with NLEX.
The 6-foot-7 bruiser banged in 31 and grabbed 10 rebounds in the victory against the Dyip, then followed it up with a career-high 39 markers to go with 12 boards versus the Giant Pandas.
According to PBA stats chief Fidel Mangonon III, Arana’s 39 marked a new scoring record by a local for the Converge franchise, shattering the previous standard of 36 set by Alec Stockton in the 2024 Philippine Cup against San Miguel Beer. Arana also joined Stockton in the list of homegrown players to score two straight 30-pointers in FiberXers’ history.
For such brilliance, Arana unanimously earned the PBA Press Corps’ nod as its Player of the Week for the period July 14-19.
“Wala namang special (preparations and actions),” Arana said when asked about his powerful performances to start the season-ending conference.
“Siyempre, ‘yun nga, kina-counter ko lang kung ano’ng depensa ang binibigay sa akin and luckily, pumapasok mga tira so thankful ako.”
Arana said he and his FiberXers’ teammates are further fueled by their desire to atone for their disappointing failure to reach the playoffs of the last Commissioner’s Cup.
“Ginagawa lang talaga namin, binibigay lang namin ang 100 percent. Talagang pinagtatrabahuhan namin, ayaw talaga naming maulit ‘yung last conference kaya nagtutulong-tulong kami,” said the fourth-year slotman, who beat Phoenix’s Ricci Rivero and TNT’s Rey Nambatac for the weekly citation given out by scribes covering the PBA beat. (PBAPC pool story)
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