Terrafirma almost squandered a 24-point third-quarter lead before surviving a late scare by Converge to pull off a 107-99 win in its Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup campaign opener Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Protecting a six-point lead that was once an imposing gap, Juami Tiongson nailed a dagger with 39 seconds left to give the Dyip some breathing room and cap his remarkable outing.
Tiongson led all scorers with 30 points on 10-of-21 field goal shooting while this season’s top overall draft pick Stephen Holt recorded a career-best 27 points.
Holt also grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double outing he laced with five steals and four assists for Terrafirma.
Head coach Johnedel Cardel’s early buildup paid dividends as the Dyip showed great chemistry to keep control of the match.
“We started early with our workout, shooting our shots and out skills and it all paid off,” Cardel said after their victory over the same squad that handed them a stinging loss in the previous tournament.
It was a sweet revenge for the Dyip, who finished 10th in the Commissioner’s Cup with just two wins in 11 starts.
“This is my first win against Converge. So we’re happy about that,” Cardel added.
Isaac Go finished with 13 points while Gelo Alolino and Javi Gomez de Liano had 10 points each for the Dyip.
The FiberXers made one last push in the fourth quarter after closing in, 101-95, following a Justine Arana basket with 1:01 left only for Tiongson to make it a four-possession ballgame in the next play.
Terrafirma opened a 24-point lead, 76-52, off a triple by Go with 6:43 in third quarter but also had some scary moments late in the same period when the FiberXers made a run to cut their deficit to just a single-digit. Inand Fornilos scored on a layup that capped 11-2 rally to close in, 83-75, with under a minute left.
Tiongson anchored Terrafirma’s first half assault, scoring 18 points including 12 in the second quarter alone.
Dyip built their biggest advantage, 50-27, with 3:56 left in the second period after Tiongson swished in his two free throws.
Converge made a late run to cut its deficit to 44-56 heading into halftime.
Alc Stockton and Arana paced the FiberXers with 18 points each, Deschaun Winston had 17 while Bryan Santos added 14 points.
