Instead of slowing him down, ankle tweak fires up Baser Amer

Meralco guard Baser Amer lit up the scoreboard against San Miguel. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Meralco point guard Baser Amer twisted his left ankle near the midway mark of the fourth quarter, but not even that could slow him down on Wednesday night.

In fact, it even got him going.

Amer scored 13 of his game-high 28 points after hurting his ankle when he stepped on San Miguel Beer forward Arwind Santos’ foot at the 6:43 mark.

“As players, we’ve played through those kinds of situations before,” Amer said in Filipino after leading the Bolts to a 93-85 upset of San Miguel Beer. “I just shrugged it off.”

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The 25-year-old Amer attributed his stellar performance to import Arinze Onuaku’s ability to attract double teams and kick the ball out to his open teammates.

“We always work on those shots in practice because we know that our import gets double-teamed a lot and that frees up one of us on the perimeter and it just so happened that I was the one who was open during those times,” Amer said.

Onuaku, who had 13 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists, was responsible for the Meralco shooters’ open looks as he created a ton of opportunities for the Bolts on the offensive end.

Amer, who shot 5-of-6 from downtown, wasn’t the only one who greatly benefitted from Onuaku’s kick out passes with guard Chris Newsome also having quite a night with 23 points.

“The backcourt really played well today. Newsome, actually, backed up his last game where he also played well. The combination of the two really made the difference for us,” said Meralco coach Norman Black, whose squad improved to 3-1.

“I’m happy for Baser and happy for Newsome but at the same time, you can’t forget that Arinze is the one finding these guys on the perimeter, he’s the one passing that basketball out of double teams and help defense.”