PAGADIAN, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR — Jonathan Uyloan played one of the biggest roles in Jumbo Plastic’s championship-clinching game -on and off the court- in the 2021 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Leg, Monday.
Petra Cement-Roxas checked the Peace Riders in the first half, going toe-to-toe with them and eventually grabbing a 34-32 advantage at halftime.
During the break, head coach Jerson Cabiltes was so upset and scolded his players for the poor showing they displayed in the opening half.
That’s when Uyloan stepped in and did his role off the court.
“We started really slow. At halftime, Coach Jerson just yelled at us,” shared the 37-year-old veteran.
“I spoke to the boys and said we have to come in the third quarter like we’re down 20 points. We don’t just match Roxas’ energy, we have to overtake it.”
Then come his participation on the court.
In a matter of 38 seconds into the third frame, Uyloan buried back-to-back triples to wake up the slacking offense of Basilan.
He went on to score all of his 10 points in that period, alongside three rebounds, three steals, and a game-high plus-23.
The Peace Riders outscored the Vanguards by 16 in that game-deciding quarter, 35-19, before pounding even more in the next canto to bag the championship and the P500,000 cash prize care of Chooks-to-Go owner Ronald Mascariñas, 89-70.
Back on July 7, the 6-foot guard recalled what happened in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, where Basilan got defaulted in their South Division Finals matchup against eventual champions Davao Occidental due to positive COVID-19 tests.
The team has since questioned the action taken by the MPBL, which the then-Steel said was not in the rulebook.
“It left a bad taste on our mouth to end the MPBL season in a default so we brought all that energy, passion, and hard work here so I think we’ll be ready,” said the soft-spoken Uyloan a month ago.
They sure brought all that, sweeping the entire Mindanao Leg with a clean 10-0 slate.
Together with leftovers from the MPBL squad Jay Collado, Hesed Gabo, Bobby Balucanag, Philip Manalang, Junjie Hallare, and Darwin Lunor, Uyloan said that incident just made the championship more special.
“This championship is sweeter because of what happened before. But you know we’re just thankful to play in VisMin Cup during a pandemic.”
