PETRON FORWARD Jay Washington is on the fast track to getting back to where he once was as he led the Blaze Boosters to a crucial win over the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados en route to capturing the Player of the Week honors for the period of June 11 to 17 in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Washington, who is coming off a foot injury and is still not operating at a hundred percent, scored 29 points and had nine rebounds and three steals as Petron defeated the Commissioner’s Cup champions Llamados, 92-80.
The development is welcome news for the Blaze Boosters, who before the win, was in the midst of a two-game slump. It is also bad news for the rest of the field in the league as Washington appears close to getting back to his averages of 16 points and 10 rebounds last season before his injury.
The 30-year-old native of San Antonio, Zambales, is still a far cry from his usual norms, averaging only 10.3 points and 6.0 rebounds before the B-Meg game. But he has already spiked his return with a 19-point, nine-rebound game against Meralco and a 23-point, six-rebound output against Barako Bull.
Against B-Meg the 6-foot-7 Washington shot 11-of-17 from the field, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, and missed only one of five charity tries. He also laced his performance with some clutch baskets in the stretch.
After the Llamados had cut the lead to just six points Washington scored on a triple and putback during a 7-0 run to push the Petron lead to 89-76 and effectively quash the uprising.
It was the fourth win in seven games for the defending champion, pushing it to fourth-running spot in the nine-game eliminations. Only the top six advance to the single-round semifinals, where the qualifiers carry over their win-loss records./Correspondent Jonas Panerio