Jayson Castro wasn’t around when TNT KaTropa faced sister teams Meralco Bolts in 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup action Saturday evening as he wedded his long-time partner.
TNT was expected to miss their floor general badly, as Castro has definitely been one of the reasons why they are carrying a 5-1 card with norms of 11.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 7.0 assists.
But star import Terrence Jones made sure they won’t miss Castro that much.
The former NBA cager was back in his lethal scoring ways, dropping 49 big points — along with 18 rebounds and four assists — to power the Texters to a 104-91 rout of the Orangemen.
“I knew we were short of Jayson, who’s an aggressive player for us,” Jones said.
“I knew I was gonna have to be a little more aggressive today to try and pick up what he would bring to our team,” the 27-year-old continued.
“My team believed in me and I just wanted to be aggressive and do all I could.”
Jones, though, did not take all the credit to himself as he tipped his hat to his teammates, saying that they have also been the reason why the KaTropa have racked up its sixth win this conference.
The Texters have virtually sealed a spot in the playoffs following the win.
“I think it’s just from the defensive end [6-1 record]. I think we’re doing a great job of playing defense and it’s getting us easy points,” he said.
“And our shooters — different guys have been stepping up and they’ve just been playing very well. Ryan [Reyes] had a great game tonight, Roger’s (Roger Pogoy been playing very well, and even Don [Trollano] brought us a great game tonight. So it’s just been a lot of guys coming in the game and ready to play,” the former NBA pro continued.
“It’s been just a lot of great play by everybody.”
After Saturday, Jones is now averaging 33.9 points, 15.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 2.4 blocks, and 1.3 assists. Asked if there’s still something he has to work on, he said it’s his free throws.
Jones is currently shooting 56 percent from the charity stripe this conference.
“Right now, I would just say free throws. I mean I’m working on it through practice and it’s showing but I just gotta continue on that,” said the 6-foot-9 forward.
“Everything else, I’m pretty fine about.”
