Jio Jalalon was feeling it Wednesday night against Korea in the 39th William Jones Cup. He was nailing jumpers here and there, and his agile moves that led to tough buckets made the opposition’s defense looked dazed.
The five-foot-nine floor general’s presence sure brought in a lot of impact for Gilas Pilipinas. The floor general scored 18 markers on a 63.6 percent-shooting, alongside three caroms and a dime in the 13 minutes he saw action.
And he did it all while nursing a sprained ankle.
“Well, we all know what Jio can do,” said Gilas head coach Chot Reyes of the Cagayan De Oro native.
“The problem is we just kept pulling him out of the game because he had an injury yesterday [versus Japan].”
It is hard to ignore Jalalonwhenever he tries to will his team to victory. Unfortunately for him though, all his efforts on both ends of the floor went in vain, as the Nationals bowed to Oh Sekeun and Korea, 83-72.
But that does not stop the veteran internationalist from singing praises to the 24-year-old.
“He was not really a hundred percent, but he gave us a great lift off the bench,” Reyes lauded.
For Jalalon though, who is averaging 10.0 points, 3.0 boards, and 2.0 assists, he played through pain simply because he wanted to, to make a statement that he is all in when it comes to playing for flag and country.
“‘Di naman masyado malala injury ko, so sabi ko okay lang, kasi ito naman yung hinahanap ko e, yung laro.
“Para lang din sa akin, sa kababayan natin, siyempre dala natin yung country,” he said. “Naano ko yung sarili ko na kayang-kaya.”
After Wednesday night, Gilas will now head into the last four days of the tourney, and will try to salvage a podium finish. But it will be a tough haul ahead for them, as Iraq, Lithuania, India, and Iran all stand in their way.
And for the Cyclone, it will all be a matter of mental toughness entering that stretch.
“Ang usapan dito, mental toughness na lang talaga paano maglalaro,” said Jalalon.
“‘Di naman ‘to tulad sa’tin na ‘di araw-araw yung laro. Dito araw-araw eh. Utak na lang talaga tumatakbo kahit sobrang pagod na.”
