Both the Converge FiberXers and the Magnolia Hotshots stumbled right out of the gate in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup, but a chance to redeem themselves comes this Friday when they take on each other.

Catch this game live on Friday,  June 10at 6 pm, Manila time.

The Converge FiberXers (0-1)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: RK Ilagan
  • SG: Michael DiGregorio
  • SF: Jeron Teng
  • PF: Ben Adamos
  • C: Justin Arana

The Converge franchise failed in its first attempt to bring home a victory, as it fell prey to Beau Belga and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on Day 1 of the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup to the tune of a 79-77 score. The FiberXers did manage to cover the spread though and looked competitive against a traditionally solid Elasto Painters unit, with Jeron Teng leading the crew with his 23 points on 9/20 shooting. 

Rookies Alec Stockton and Justin Arana also showed right away how valuable they could be for the expansion team. Stockton stuffed the stat sheets in his PBA debut with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks, while Arama had 6 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Additional help is also on the way for the FiberXers, with guard Maverick Ahanmisi. With Ahanmisi back and Stockton rising up plus the presence of Mike DiGregorio and RK Ilagan, Converge has the guards to keep up with Magnolia whenever it rolls out its dreaded 3-headed guard combo of Mark Barroca, Paul Lee, and Jio Jalalon.

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The Magnolia Hotshots (0-1)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Mark Barroca
  • SG: Paul Lee
  • SF: Rome dela Rosa
  • PF: Calvin Abueva
  • C: Ian Sangalang

Like the FiberXers, Magnolia suffered a loss in its first game of the conference, as they absorbed a 78-72 loss to the TNT Tropang Giga. Paul Lee was not in his element in that contest, as he scored just 4 points on a salty 2/20 shooting from, the field. But that the Hotshots lost by only 6 points to a team like TNT despite a putrid offensive performance by the star guard says a lot about how good this team really is. 

Lee can’t be that cold always, and he can bounce back right away against Converge’s defense that let Rain or Shine go 14/36 from deep last Sunday. The tandem of Ian Sangalang and Calvin Abueva must also be licking their chops over the prospect of facing the young FiberXers frontcourt. Sangalang led the Hotshots with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds in the TNT game, while Abueva also had a double-double himself of 12 points and 12 rebounds. These are intimidating vets who could throw off Alaska’s youngsters. 

PREDICTION:

Spread: Magnolia covers -6.

Over/Under: Taking the Over 169.5 here.

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