Arana, Baltazar throw weight around

MANILA, Philippines —  Converge clamped down on high-scoring Rain or Shine to collar a 107-97 victory and make it three in a row in the PBA Philippine Cup last night at the PhilSports Arena.

As expected, the FiberXers banked on Justin Arana and Justine Baltazar to pound it hard inside then harnessed the explosiveness and slashing skills of guards Schonny Winston and Alec Stockton to extend their streak and climb to 4-2 overall.

The Elasto Painters saw their two-game roll halted and fell to an even 2-2 card.

Arana punched in a 18 points and 17 rebounds to go with a game-high six assists while Baltazar grabbed 22 boards to complement his 13 markers against an ROS team still missing key frontliners Beau Belga and Caelan Tiongson due to injuries.

The Converge Twin Towers’ muscle plays opened things up for Winston and Stockton, who scored 24 each.

More than the scoring eruption, coach Franco Atienza lauded the FiberXers’ defensive efforts versus the Elasto Painters, who averaged 112 markers prior to this faceoff.

“I give credit to players for trusting (defensive) gameplan and buying in,” said Atienza.

Later, RJ Abarrientos (27 spiked by six triples) and newly-reactivated Jayson David (25-9) showed the way as Barangay Ginebra (2-1) bounced back with 131-106 rout of skidding NorthPort (1-3).