Mike Ayonayon waited for a perfect time to flourish.
Now on his third season, Ayonayon came up with big plays down the stretch to tow Blackwater to a 109-106 come-from-behind victory over the mighty San Miguel Beer in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup on Wednesday, 5 October at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Ayonayon, a former Most Valuable Player in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, stole the ball from two-time scoring champion CJ Perez then completed the heist with a transition basket to seal the victory.
But Ayonayon’s late-game heroics were overshadowed by import Cameron Krutwig’s brilliant all-around performance.
Krutwig came away with a triple-double performance of 20 points, 18 rebounds and 10 assists as he continued to make his teammates look good.
Veteran guard Baser Amer contributed 16 markers on top of three rebounds and three assists while Troy Rosario added 13 points.
Ayonayon had 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal to provide the spark coming off the bench.
Yousef Taha chipped in 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field on top of six rebounds and three assists while Gab Banal continued his solid performance, contributing 10 points, four rebounds and three assists as Blackwater improved to 2-2 win-loss card.
“That’s basketball. We don’t have an import who is scoring 40 or 50 points, but the good thing is, we are all improving together with Cam,” said Blackwater coach Ariel Vanguardia, singing praises to his import’s solid all-around game.
It was a big bounce back win for Blackwater, which squandered a 16-point lead to drop a 105-102 loss to NLEX last week.
This time, the Bossing played catch up and trailed by as many as 15 points in the early part of the second half.
But the Bossing responded and played with better composure against a Beermen team that played its first game of the tournament.
Six-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo bannered the Beermen, pumping in 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting laced with 16 boards.
Diamond Stone, a last-minute replacement import, failed to deliver a gem of a performance, but still played decent despite coming in on a short notice.
He registered 20 points and eight boards but missed all his six attempts from beyond the arc.
The scores:
Blackwater (109) — Krutwig 20, Amer 16, Rosario 13, Taha 11, Banal 10, Ayonayon 10, McCarthy 7, Suerte 7, Jackson 7, Ebona 4, Ular 4, Sena 0, Go 0.
San Miguel (106) — Fajardo 23, Stone 20, Lassiter 18, Perez 16, Tautuaa 11, Cruz 8, Enciso 6, Manuel 4, Ross 0, Herndon 0.