MANILA, Philippines – With a 113-107 victory against Converge, Phoenix ended its two-game losing streak in the PBA Philippine Cup on Friday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

With a double-double of 26 points, 13 rebounds, and four assists in the third quarter, Jason Perkins packed the stat sheet and shared the limelight with Ricci Rivero, who scored 14 points to help the Fuel Masters break a 50-all tie after two quarters.

During the postgame news conference, Perkins expressed gratitude to his teammates for their support but also took responsibility for their near-loss of the lead.

“Just help from my teammates, I know everybody saw the points and stuff but when we lost that lead, I think that was my fault. The cameras don’t see if I get emotional sometimes. I had bad body language. I wasn’t being the best leader,” Perkins stated.

“So we lost the lead but luckily, our teammates picked it up,” he said.

In the win, Ken Tuffin of Phoenix scored 16 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, recording a double-double of his own.

In the payoff period, the FiberXers made several attempts to get back into the game and even got as close as 103-100 with just over four minutes remaining. However, Tuffin’s personal 5-0 run and a couple of foul shots later in the game helped Phoenix hold off the Converge comeback.

Alec Stockton’s 31-7 effort and Justine Arana’s 32-16 outburst were in vain as the FiberXers lost.

The Fuel Masters added 11 points apiece from Javee Mocon and Matthew Daves, who both had single-digit scoring averages throughout the competition.

With a record of 2-4, the Fuel Masters are currently in contention for a postseason berth, whereas Converge, with a record of 0-7, is out of the running.

On the other hand, Large-scale male event: Lucero, Go, Sangalang, and Tautuaa dazzle

The PBA’s 49th anniversary celebration was capped up on Wednesday night at Ninoy Aquino Stadium with a PAIR of intense games.

Magnolia defeated Northport 104 to 97 to prevent a three-game losing streak, while San Miguel maintained its one-game lead in the Philippine Cup by overcoming Terrafirma 113 to 110.

The Hotshots evened their record at 2 to 2 after ending the Batang Pier’s winning run at four games. Despite this, the Beermen have now won five consecutive and continue to be the only team without a loss.
Terrafirma (4 to 4) and Northport (4 to 2) both lost, although they were still in the top four of the standings.

The lessons learned from Asia’s inaugural play-for-pay league’s anniversary games are as follows.

1) On this particular day, Mo Tautuaa was on fire, scoring a season-high 24 points, the most of which came from a 3-of-5 three-point shooting performance. He also scored the final five points for the Beermen to defeat Dyip. San Miguel recovered the unexpected ax against the much-improved Terrafirma team thanks to the victory of the experienced Fil-Tongan, who faced fellow giant Isaac Go of Terrafirma in a thrilling shootout.

2) Go had another excellent performance for the Dyip, finishing with a new career-high twenty-one points, all of those came from shooting from three-point range. As he progresses in his third season in the league, the former Ateneo mainstay shot 7 of 15 from beyond the arc, a career high. In yet another all-around performance, he added seven rebounds and four assists to go along with his four key teammates for Terrafirma: Stephen Holt, Javi Gomez De Liano, Aldrech Ramos, and Juami Tiongson. Regretfully, he failed to make his ninth three-point attempt of the match, which may have forced OT

Three points from a big man: Ian Sangalang hit a career high with 32 points in Magnolia’s victory over Northport, in yet another outstanding effort. After Robert Bolick (30 points as well as 15 assists), Leonard Santillan (31 points as well as 14 rebounds), as well as Arvin Tolentino (31 points as well as 11 assists), the former NCAA MVP added a team-high ten rebounds to end with a 30 to 10 double-double during the season. He led the Hotshots to victory in the second half, ending their two-game losing streak, with 22 points.