MANILA – After failing to don the Gilas Pilipinas colors, Ilonggo guard Jericho Cruz is more thrilled than ever being named as part of the 24-man roster by the Guam national basketball team for the Feb. window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
The Iloilo City native said that his Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team NLEX Road Warriors and the Guam Basketball Federation are currently in negotiations as to whether he will receive the green light to play in the upcoming window for Guam versus Hong Kong and New Zealand.
“Every player would want to play internationally,” Cruz said. “One of my dreams talaga is to play for the Philippines, but luck isn’t on my side here. I’m blessed and honored to be a part of Guam’s national team.”
“Nag-uusap pa naman sila boss Ronald (Dulatre) and coach EJ (Calvo) kung papayagan ako,” he added. “So far the conversations are doing good, but they need to consider a lot of things before they can finally decide. Whatever decision will be, I will respect that.”
The 29-year-old Cruz is not new to representing Guam after playing for the Northern Mariana Islands in the 2009 FIBA Oceania Tournament in Saipan and the 2010 Micronesian Games in Palau.
Before switching allegiance to Guam, Cruz, however, did play for the country as part of the Sinag Pilipinas program that captured the gold medal in the 2013 Southeast Asian Games in Naypyidaw, Myanmar.
Aside from Cruz, Guam also named former Adamson University Falcons guard William Stinett and former University of the East Red Warriors guard Chris Conner as part of the lineup./PN
