Aaron Black would rather trade the best scoring game of his young PBA career for a victory after Meralco fell short to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Game 2 of the Governors’ Cup Finals.
Black continued to make a strong impression in the league’s brightest stage, firing 24 points but the Bolts would suffer a 99-93 loss to the Gin Kings Friday, April 8 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
He shot 10-of-20 from the field with three rebounds, six assists and two steals for Meralco.
The southpaw guard from Ateneo was one of the reasons why Meralco was able to cut a 20-point deficit down to two on a couple of occasions before Ginebra made the big plays down the stretch.
“I would take the win anytime of the day over any kind of stats,” Black said. “If I had 50 points, I would take the win over that. “It’s different being up 2-0 than tied 1-1. It’s back to square one again.
“We understand that they made adjustments, we also know that they are a really good team and have a really good coach. Now we have to make the adjustments going into Game 3,” he added.
The Most Outstanding Rookie of the 2020 Philippine Cup has been one of the most consistent performers for Meralco in the early stages of the series, averaging 18.0 points on 55-percent shooting with 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists.
He had 12 points, six rebounds and three assists when Meralco took Game 1 with a 104-91 win last Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Ginebra coach Tim Cone described Black as someone who is “playing at an All-Star level” while his Meralco mentor and dad Norman Black is hopeful that he can keep the same level of production for the rest of the series.
“Confidence-wise, it helps me,” Black said. “But at the same time, we lost. So it’s back to the drawing board, not just for me but for everybody.”