MANILA – Ilonggo guard Jericho Cruz is excited with the possibility of winning a championship with his former college coach and now San Miguel Beermen mentor Leo Austria in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup.
According to Cruz, he is looking forward to achieving the feat with Austria in the PBA after failing to do so when he played for the latter at the Adamson University Falcons in the UAAP.
“I’m excited to win a championship with coach Leo. It would be a good moment for me and him since we didn’t win anything for Adamson,” said Cruz. “Hopefully, we can get one this time.”
It was Cruz’s desire to be handled by Austria anew that he decided to sign a multi-year contract with the Beermen last season despite a contract extension offer from ex-team NLEX Road Warriors.
The Iloilo City combo guard has proven himself to be one of the offensive contributors for the Beermen this conference despite the squad’s talented and loaded backcourt rotation.
Cruz is not a newcomer in the PBA’s last dance as he has several championship stints during his time with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and even winning his first-ever PBA title in 2016.
However, for Cruz, it is still a special feeling if he can win a PBA ring at the Beermen with Austria but he knows it will be a difficult one as they will face one of his former teams and defending champions TNT Tropang Giga.
“We all know it’s going to be very hard against TNT in the finals,” the former Falcons star shared. “But andiyan yung mga coaching staff namin, and kaming mga players ready lang naman.”
The Beermen made a return trip to the PBA All-Filipino Conference championship round following a tightly-contested 4-3 semifinals series victory over Tropang Giga’s sister team Meralco Bolts.
Game 1 of the San Miguel-TNT best-of-seven finale will commence on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. This will be the first PBA Finals encounter of the two powerhouse teams since the 2019 PBA Commissioner’s Cup./PN
