Jericho Cruz is looking at another tour of duty with Guam.
The San Miguel guard is named part of the national team’s 12-man lineup for the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers’ opening window next week.
It would be a quick turnaround for the 33-year-old, as he’d be focusing on the tilt right after the ongoing PBA Season 48 Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
The Beermen are up 3-2 in the series against Magnolia big thanks to Cruz, who dropped 30 points to lead the way in the 108-98 victory in Game 5.
SMB could end it in Game 6 on Wednesday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum – which, if ever, would allow the seasoned winger to rejoin Guam sooner.
(C) PBA Images
Cruz will help spearhead their Window 1 campaign along with veterans Earnest Ross, Jr., Jonathan Galloway, Tai Wesley, and Curtis Washington.
The troika of Galloway, Ross, and Cruz powered the Guamainians to a 5-0 sweep of the Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers.
Galloway was their top scorer in the qualifier to the Qualifiers with 19.2 points and 11.6 rebounds. Ross averaged 16.0 points, while Cruz supplied 13.4.
Also in the lineup of Coach EJ Calvo are Joe Blas, Daren Hechanova, Ben Borja, Tomas Calvo, Takumi Simon, Reo Aiken, and Mark Johnson.
Situated in Group C, Guam will begin its road to the Asia Cup against the Paris Olympics-bound Japan on February 22 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.
The crew will then fly to Ulaanbaatar to face Mongolia at the UG Arena on the 25th, looking to keep mastery of the team they beat to sweep the Pre-Qualifiers.
Also part of the group is traditional powerhouse China.
Guam is motivated to succeed in the upcoming Qualifiers after missing the last bus to the Asia Cup 2022, where it lost via aggregate to Chinese Taipei.
