By REYNALD MAGALLON
Former San Miguel Beer import Ivan Aska may not be at the Big Dome when the Beermen seized the 2023-’24 PBA Commissioner’s Cup title but he was given huge credit by head coach Jorge Gallent for turning the corner in the team’s title run.
The SMB bench tactician pointed out that Aska paved the way for the Beermen’s blistering run on the way to the Finals when he led the team to two huge victories against top contenders TNT and Ginebra even when he was already on his way out of the team.
Those two wins, according to Gallent proved to be the turning point to the eventual champions as Bennie Boatwright took over and led the Beermen to nine more wins to tie the franchise’s longest win streak.
The streak eventually got halted by back-to-back losses that allowed Magnolia to tie the Finals series but SMB went on to win the last two to crown itself as champion.
“The last two games of Ivan Aska, he really played his beep out. He won that and those games are against tough teams. Those games are against Ginebra and TNT that lifted us up then Bennie just took over,” said Gallent.
Aska, who came in as a replacement import to SMB’s original choice Tyler Stone, actually did pretty well for SMB leading the team to a 3-1 record in his first four games. Injury bug however bit the Beermen when June Mar Fajardo went down with a hand injury, causing the team to drop two games for an even 3-3 record.
That forced SMB management to look for another reinforcement, who could hold the fort with Fajardo being sidelined and turned out to be Boatwright. He, however, went down with the flu, prompting the Beermen to stick with Aska for two more games.
Despite knowing his fate, Aska, like a true professional finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in SMB’s 95-82 win before exiting with a bang with 25 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals in the 98-93 win over TNT.
“Ivan Aska really helped up. He knew he was gonna get changed but he still played his heart out. We were 3-3. We beat Ginebra and then TNT. He was the import and he played so well. That was the turning point of the conference,” said Gallent.
