By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Scotty Hopson proved time and time again that he is one of the deadliest four-point shooters in the PBA Governor’s Cup.
With only 6.6 seconds remaining during the Converge FiberXers’ tightly contested battle against the Terrafirma Dyip, everyone knew where the ball was going especially when the purple mob was trailing in the dying stretch.
After Hopson went out a curl in the right elbow, BJ Andrade pitched the pass to their main man, and oh boy did he deliver after burying the game-winning four-point shot to frustrate the struggling Terrafirma squad, 100-99, in the ongoing import-laced conference on September 14, 2024, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
It was a resilient comeback from the FiberXers after going down by as much as 14 points in the game and nine points in the final 3:40 of the fourth.
Needing a huge bucket to kick start their come-from-behind effort, Andrade found his mark from downtown that trimmed Converge’s deficit to six points.
After the jolt of energy that Andrade provided, everyone turned its focus to Schonny Winston who single-handedly brought Converge back into the game with a series of clutch hits.
In the final three minutes of the game, Winston looked like a one-man wrecking crew after scoring nine points that pulled the FiberXers to within a point.
The former DLSU Green Archer scorer had the chance to make things easier for the FiberXers if he cashed all three attempts from the charity stripe but the guard had a single crucial miss off a foul committed by Kevin Ferrer.
Ferrer quickly made up his error after he cashed in all shots from the free throw line in the following possession but Hopson countered back with the biggest shot of the game after sinking the leaning four-point hail mary heave.
Terrafirma had one last chance to win the game but they failed to execute their final offensive play, leading to another heartbreaking loss in the PBA Governor’s Cup.
Hopson, the man of the hour, delivered a near double-double performance for the FiberXers with 18 points and nine rebounds but it was Winston who top-scored Converge with 19, dropping 13 of his total in the fourth alone.
On the other hand, Terrafirma had another great game from their reinforcement Antonio Hester who dominated with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and seven dimes but Dyip is yet to win a single game in this conference after losing its last eight games.
