A PERSONAL matter involving his ailing mother forced coach Aldin Ayo to miss Converge’s 113-111 overtime win over San Miguel Beer on Sunday night in the PBA On Tour.
In Ayo’s absence, deputy Franco Atienza called the shots for the FiberXers, who battled back from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to pull off the thrilling win.
READ: Late Balanza basket lifts Converge to OT win over SMB
Ayo later said he had to attend to his mother and just monitored the game on television and on the team’s Viber group.
“I have to be with my mother. She’s not feeling well,” said Ayo in a short text message.
But Atienza was quick to give credit to his coach, whose defensive scheme allowed the FiberXers to come back, win the game, and arrest their three-game skid in the preseason.
“Whatever you saw here, it’s his system. Ginawa lang namin,” said Atienza. “It was a group effort from the staff and the team. We’ve been doing this for less than one year and the players have been putting in the work in practice.
"We executed our scheme, we executed the mayhem, you saw that, we picked the pieces up together, we played together.”
Atienza said Ayo was in constant touch with the team during the game.
“During halftime, he was with us, he was with the team,” added the Converge deputy. “It just so happened he can’t be here physically. But he’s on top of everything.”
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