Thank you for that, somehow MSM did not work for me with the tool I was able get my hands on from another thread on XDA (suspect it had something to do with the vendor, boot, etc. Imgs on A13 as opposed to older versions of android - but I could very well be wrong about it).
Here's what worked instead: (in case anyone else gets stuck in a similar spot)
1.Flash TWRP as recovery
2. Download OOS stock version 11.2.2.8 and boot from TWRP recovery, proceed to sideload
3. Install and configur stock as one would, update to current/latest OOS version
Hope this helps someone..cheers