PBA Player of the Week Baser Amer rises to the occasion for Meralco

MANILA, Philippines – While team effort has always been the name of the game for Meralco, coach Norman Black singled out one person largely responsible for the Bolts stringing out back-to-back wins last week in the PBA Governors Cup.

“A lot of times you need somebody to step up and take over for your team and the last couple of games, it has been Baser Amer,” said the grand slam coach of his heady point guard.

Amer did step up for the Bolts in their wins over Phoenix and Alaska, racking up averages of 26.5 points while shooting a combined 10-of-21 from three-point range to help the team raised its overall record to 3-1.

He also had 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds.

The numbers, not to mention Black’s kind words for him, earned Amer the PBA Press Corps-Cignal Player of the Week for the period September 30 to October 6.

He became the second Meralco player in the last three weeks to earn the distinction after big man Raymund Almazan.

Amer sizzled in Meralco’s 101-75 rout of Alaska after tallying 27 points on 6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range, doing most of the damage during a telling third quarter run where he tallied a total of 14 points.

He followed that up with a 26-point output four days later as Meralco pulled off a 111-94 victory over Phoenix.

“That feels good to see Baser had back-to-back great games offensively. When he shoots the ball like that, it gives us a much better chance of winning,” Black said about the 27-year-old playmaker from Davao.

Amer beat out Meralco teammate Chris Newsome for the weekly honor as the one-time slamdunk champion also received a vote after posting his first ever PBA career triple-double by coming through with 13 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists in the win over the Fuel Masters.

Others nominated for the citation were the TnT Katropa trio of Roger Pogoy, Don Trollano, and Jayson Castro, San Miguel’s Alex Cabagnot and June Mar Fajardo, along with Magnolia big man Ian Sangalang.