PBA: TNT cruises past Blackwater for second win; Converge wins back-to-back

The TNT Tropang Giga and Converge FiberXers both picked up their second consecutive wins against separate opponents in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Thursday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

TNT put the clamps on Blackwater import George King as they cruised to a 109-93 victory to improve to 2-2 after opening the conference with two straight losses.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored 22 points to lead five other Tropang Giga in double figures in a balanced scoring effort.

Rey Nambatac put up 19 markers, Calvin Oftana added 18, and TNT veteran Jayson Castro chipped in with 16. RR Pogoy and Glenn Khobuntin, meanwhile, added 12 and 10, respectively.

King was held to his lowest output this conference but still managed to finish with a game-high 28 points while shooting just 45.5% from the field. Blackwater fell to 1-5 in the win-loss standings.

Converge, meanwhile, also won back-to-back games after beating Phoenix, 116-105.

Jordan Heading and import Cheick Diallo both contributed 21 points to lead the FiberXers while Deschon Winston and Bryan Santos each had 16 markers.

Converge had to buck a slow start where they fell behind 20-2 to open the game.

But they battled back into the game, eventually taking their first lead of the game after two free throws from Santos that made it a 69-67 lead for the FiberXers at the 5:53 mark of the third period.

They only led by one point, 95-94, nearly six minutes into the fourth quarter before Alec Stockton led the team to a 9-0 run that made it a double-digit game, 104-94, late. Stockton scored five points in the run before finishing with a total of 14 in the game. He also had eight rebounds and five assists.

Donovan Smith led Phoenix with 30 points and 18 rebounds.

With the win, Converge improved to 4-2 while knocking Phoenix down to 1-5.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News