ANTIPOLO – Mark Nonoy couldn’t be any happier to have shared the floor with one of his childhood heroes when Terrafirma took on TNT to close out their PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup campaign on Wednesday evening.
The rookie was all smiles as he competed against Jayson Castro for the first time, thrilled to have done so against the future Hall of Famer whom he highly regards and has drawn inspiration from since he was younger.
“Since childhood ko, napapanood ko na siya eh — grade school ako, high school. Isa siya sa mga PBA player na ini-inspire ko yung sarili ko,” he said.
So, the 24-year-old took that opportunity to show off in front of his idol, ultimately leading to his best showing in the league thus far.
Nonoy fired a career-high 33 points on a combined 7-of-9 shooting from the two arcs, and also chalked up four rebounds and four assists to power his Dyip to a 117-108 stunner to end their conference in rousing fashion.
The 10th overall pick of the recent draft admitted that he wanted to ‘challenge’ the five-time BPC, thus the stupendous outing he came out with.
“Kanina naging confident ako kasi gusto kong ma-challenge siya. Kasi idol ko ‘yun eh. Sobrang thankful ako kasi na-overcome ko rin ‘yung [kaba] ko, nakalaro ako ng maayos,” said the lefty playmaker, who was a +21 in the win.
(C) PBA Images
But what really made his night was the piece of advice he got from the 38-year-old Castro, who finished with 11 points for the Tropang Giga.
“‘Yung sinabi niya, decision making and control your speed,” shared Nonoy, who’s built a reputation as a speedy PG since his time as a UST Tiger Cub.
It couldn’t get any sweeter for Nonoy but aside from playing against Castro and getting the W, the former MPBL standout believes that he’s proven that he belongs in Asia’s pioneering pro league following a noteworthy performance.
“Tinrabaho ko ‘to eh,” he said.
“Isa ‘to sa pangarap ko. Nung nakatuntong na ‘ko rito, kailangan ko mag-build ng sarili kong pangalan.
“Gagawa ako ng kung ano makakatulong sa team namin. Kanina napaganda ‘yung team namin dahil sa shooting namin, nahawa-hawa na kami,” added the one-time UAAP gold medalist with La Salle. “Siguro I belong in this league.”
