The future met the present for the first time in the big league
Since Jiovani Jalalon was enlisted by Gilas Pilipinas a year ago, Jayson Castro took the then-Arellano Chief under his wing. The four-time Best Player of the Conference granted the 24-year-old a chance to pick his brain: training him one-on-one, going on scrimmages, and even visiting him during his games in the NCAA
Sunday evening, Jalalon had the chance to show Castro how much he has learned from him when the Star Hotshots took on the TNT Katropa in a pivotal match-up in the 2016-17 PBA Philippine Cup.
“Maganda naman naging experience ko kay kuya Jayson,” the Cagayan de Oro native said.
“Doon talaga ako na-excite, dahil sa kanya. Mahirap talaga bantayan.”
Prior to this game, Jalalon had been struggling, as he went 0-for-10 during Christmas day against Ginebra and a 1-of-4 game against Alaska. And those two games ended up as losses for the proud Star Hotshots.
“Yun na nga yung pinaguusapan namin kanina sa dugout, na one game at a time lang kami. Dahan-dahan lang,” the 5-foot-9 floor general shared. “Focus lang kami sa game at kung sino kalaban.”
Indeed, he was laser-focused, especially against his TNT counterpart Jayson Castro.
In 23 minutes of play, Jalalon helped contain Castro to a horrid 4-of-15 outing for 16 points — 2.8 points below his norms.
“Maganda yung gamplan at execution ng players. We are proud of our guards because they stepped up their defense especially against [Jayson] Castro,” head coach Chito Victolero said after Star’s 88-77 win over TNT.
“Attack the basket talaga. Yun talaga yung nakita ko nung dinipensahan ko siya. Kaya chinallenge ko lang, kung paano ko siya babantayan,” Jalalon added.
“Kinakausap ako ni coach Jason [Webb] nun na dumipensa muna bago um-opensa. Kaya yun, dun ko kinuha strength ko. Depensa muna bago umiskor.”
From the quality defense he gave, Jalalon was able to find his groove by attacking the rim. He was able to finish the game with 10 points — six coming from the charity stripe.
And his performance drew high remarks from Castro.
“Magaling. Makikita mo yung potential sa kanya. Kaya niyang i-run yung team nila pag andun siya,” the six-time PBA champion remarked.
