For the past 13 days, Michael Juico had been on a literal grind.
Almost every day, he had to travel two hours to get to the venue from his home in San Fernando, Pampanga and another two hours to get back home.
And even Juico admits that it’s tiring. But it’s not an excuse for him to deliver for Basilan-Jumbo Plastic Medical Depot.
“Sa San Fernando, Pampanga pa ko umuuwi araw-araw,” he shared.
“Altough nakakapagod, dito kami kumikita at wala kaming choice.”
Playing their fourth game in as many days, Juico continued to pour it on, dropping 23 points, five assists, five rebounds, and four steals in Basilan’s 77-72 win semis win over Pasig-Sta. Lucia.
And he even bucked an ankle sprain just to finish the game.
“Okay naman. So far ayos naman. Wala ng reason kasi kailangan maglaro sa finals,” he said.
Juico is the one player that Nueva Ecija is wary about.
“Ang proproblemahin namin talaga yung depensa nila at si Juico,” said Juico’s ex-teammate Chris Bitoon.
“Kinakabahan ako kay Juico talaga kasi buwis buhay talaga,” added Michael Mabulac, another former teammate of Juico.
For Juico though, they don’t need to do anything different against Nueva Ecija.
After all, their system has already led them to championships in the VisMin Super Cup and FilBasket.
“Tulad ng ginawa namin ngayon, we need to sustain our defense.”
