With Alaska’s main playmaker JVee Casio still sidelined due to a bone bruise, the other Aces backcourt players have continued stepping up to provide the team with a lift.
RJ Jazul was one of those who again exemplified being the “next man up”, as he scored a team-high 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting in Alaska’s 97-94 Game 1 win over the Meralco Bolts on Monday night.
Jazul scored seven of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, including a three-point play conversion which pushed Alaska on top, 87-84.
After the game, he spoke about the need to step up, saying the entire team is helping each other out to win.
“Lahat naman kami, we are doing everything para manalo, siyempre para makatulong kahit papano,” Jazul said. “Mahirap sila kalaban. Yung import nila, malaking bagay.”
Jazul played the second most minutes in Game One with 28:30, just behind import Rob Dozier’s 31:47. Alaska head coach Alex Compton also shared Jazul has done an admirable job filling in for Casio.
“RJ has been great. He is tough, he is a winner, today he made saw some shots fall. You need somebody to make some shots. Him and Chris (Banchero) are manning the point for us. They filled in admirably,” Compton said.
“JVee is seriously one of the greatest basketball minds in the league. Everybody misses him but that’s just basketball. Somebody goes down, somebody (steps up).”
Jazul added the Aces just need to keep fighting together until the end of the series.
“Siyempre sobrang halaga noon, kahit sino naman, ako, si Ping (Exciminiano), or si Chris (Banchero), kami yung nagtutulungan sa point, ang mahalaga tulong-tulong kami hanggang matapos.”
