Asistio and Black Bringing the One Big Fight in Zamboanga

Right now, the reach of the success of the Ateneo basketball program is still going beyond the UAAP, the PBA, and even, in the international competitions. And if you look at the drafted players in the 2019 PBA Rookie Draft, all 7 players who entered the draft got picked with 3 of them got drafted in the special Gilas draft led by top pick, Isaac Go who will be playing for the Columbian Dyip alongside CJ Perez.

And yes, among those Ateneo standouts who got drafted last December was none other than Aaron Black who was coincidentally drafted by the Meralco Bolts- coached by his own father, Norman Black. 

While waiting for the start of his rookie season in the PBA, Aaron Black is taking his "One Big Fight" in the MPBL while playing for the Zamboanga Sardines. And in case you haven't noticed, the Alvin Pasaaol-led Zamboanga side has another Ateneo player in their line-up. His name is Anton Asistio- the streaky shooter of the Blue Eagles who won two straight championships under Tab Baldwin from 2017 to 2018. Both Black and Asistio are playing heavy minutes for the Sardines who just came out of a do-or-die Game 3 against the Batangas Athletics last week to book a date in the semifinals of the South Division with the reigning South Division champions, the Davao Occidental Tigers. 

Not only are the two Ateneo products playing heavy minutes for Coach Raymond Valenzona, both are able to deliver the goods for the Sardines and they are among the reasons why Zamboanga was able to topple the fourth-seeded team in the South Division. 

In their series-clinching Game 3 win, Zamboanga saw Alvin Pasaol struggle offensively as Batangas was able to limit Pasaol to only 8 points on 2 for 12 field goal shooting. That's a far cry from Pasaol's 17-point per game average during the regular season which made him one of the league's top scorers. Fortunately, the rest of the gang stepped up as Harold Arboleda buckled up to lead the team with 15 points and 9 rebounds in 25 minutes of action off the bench. Zamboanga's next leading scorer in Game against Batangas? Anton Asistio who had 12 points and shot 3 for 4 from long distance. He also had 3 assists and steal in 20 minutes. Aaron Black only finished with 5 points but we can expect more from Black in the semifinals. After all, this is the same Aaron Black who averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists during his stint in the PBA D-League while playing for AMA Online Education before making the jump to the MPBL where he first played for the Quezon City Capitals.

While Alvin Pasaol is expected to rise from his slump in Game 3 in time for their match-up against the Tigers, people shouldn't count Anton Asistio and Aaron Black out of the equation just yet. If there's one thing that they've learned from Tab Baldwin, they should be ready at any moment when their name is called. And when that happens, they should be able to produce quality numbers.

Anton Asistio and Aaron Black are both capable of doing that. They might not be fancy numbers but they are the numbers that get the job done for Zamboanga. 

Photo is from the Facebook page of the MPBL