Converge shatters even own expectations, raises bar on goals

It took all of Beerman June Mar Fajardo’s (left) 40 points and 24 rebounds to deflate Justin Arana and the FiberXers. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Basketball coaches usually take a day or two processing a botched campaign.

But that wasn’t quite the case for Converge’s Franco Atienza, whose squad nearly toppled mighty San Miguel Beer in the deciding Game 5 of the PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.

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From finishing dead-last in the previous season, the FiberXers captured their first-ever playoff victory at the expense of the dynastic Beermen, and even pushed the powerhouse club to the edge of a monumental collapse.

So you bet he already had a lot of positive takeaways within reach.

“Frankly speaking, we weren’t expecting to be in the playoffs, let alone bring San Miguel to the brink. So we take pride in that,” he told reporters shortly after a gallant 109-105 losing stand at Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

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June Mar dominates

“We showed how resilient we were, how good we can be, so we feel that the ceiling is still high for us,” the rookie head coach said.

In fact, the FiberXers lost the deciding Game 5 only in the face of a dominating performance by San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo, who needed a 40-20 double-double to pull the Beermen through.

Converge, with a bunch of young players, hardly looked like it was going to significantly improve from their 3-19 win-loss season. They brought in an aging Alex Cabagnot, which looked like a marketing move rather than a tactical one. And they remained without their top pick Justine Baltazar as he continued to fulfill his club duties in another league.

And yet the FiberXers collected six wins in the elimination phase of the Governors’ Cup—some of those victories at the expense of perennial contenders Meralco, Magnolia and one against defending champion TNT.

The telco club which was also navigating its first conference under a rejigged brain trust led by Franco, Charles Tiu, and consultant Rajko Toroman then staved off elimination twice before Sunday’s stand that could’ve been one of the biggest upsets in recent league history.

Work to do

“We just have to keep building from this. We’ll take a break but will again look at the lessons from this campaign. This is virtually the first do-or-die for most of our players. Only Alex and Kevin (Racal) have that experience in the playoffs. Other than that, we have sophomores,” Atienza said.

Cabagnot, who has been mentoring the club’s young guards Alec Stockton and Schonny Winston, also came through in Game 5 that night, putting up 14 points on a 4-of-6 shooting clip from deep that threatened San Miguel for most of the night.

“The character, the poise are all built through those games. We can get through certain situations, but the nerves while playing in a do-or-die [against an] elite team? That’s hard to [gain].”

As optimistic as he is with looking at the campaign, the young coach also knows that there’s plenty of work to do for the FiberXers.

“[We have to] make ourselves stronger, sharper, smarter and have poise in the endgame,” he said.

“This is the first conference of our season and we will be excited to get back for the next. There are still two more ahead of us and we haven’t even gotten our rookies,” he added, referring to Baltazar, Letran’s Pao Javillonar, La Salle’s Ben Phillips and Arellano’s Ronan Santos. (Subscribe to read related Inquirer Plus feature on Justin Arana)

“I believe we will be a different team in the next conference (after this), but again, it’s up to us to continue working hard, continue doing the things we did well in this series and this conference we just had,” Atienza said. INQ