Ginebra boosts top 2 bid, hammers Converge in CDO

Christian Standhardinger PBA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines: Barangay Ginebra woke up from first half stupor behind its energetic third quarter offensive to clobber Converge, 105-93 and move closer to a top 2 finish on Saturday in the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup at the Aquilino Pimentel Jr. International Convention Center in Cagayan de Oro City.

Big men Christian Standhardinger and Japeth Aguilar, along with combo guard Maverick Ahanmisi joined hands in leading the Gin Kings’ third quarter assault that saw them outscore the FiberXers, 35-21 to lead by 14 after being forced to a 48-48 halftime count.

Ginebra went on to pad its lead to as many as 21 points en route to booking its fourth straight win and improve to 7-3 overall.

Standhardinger produced a near triple-double effort of 33 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists.

Ahanmisi went on to finish with 17 points, spiked by four triples, to go along with six rebounds and seven assist’s against his former team.

Ralph Cu contributed 13, Aguilar had 12 and seven, while Scottie Thompson chipped in a solid all-around effort of 10 points, 10 boards and seven assists.

Young playmaker Alec Stockton continued his excellent individual scoring as he topped Converge with 32 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Justin Arana added 18 and seven boards for Converge, which dropped to 1-9.