IS ARRIVAL in the Tigers’ lair was as unintentional as it was phenomenal.
At a time when the Growling Tigers badly yearned for a reliable center that could turn their fate around, rookie sensation Jervy Cruz bumped into the gates of the University, clueless of the glittering possibilities that awaited him.
Spurred by curiosity and the desire to play basketball, Cruz found himself beside the Engineering Complex one training morning, asking one of the players of UST’s training team if he could try out for the squad. And after a few training sessions, he made it to the Tigers’ Team B.
That was in 2004. Little did the Jamaican-Filipino know that his first stint with the title-hungry Tigers would serve as a disclaimer of sorts, given UST’s underdog billing” that of winning the UAAP crown after a decade of disappointment.
Cruz, the fearsome scoring and rebounding machine, has emphatically taken the UAAP by storm. Asked what enabled him to pull off such feat, Cruz humbly said: “Sinuswerete lang siguro ako.”
But numbers tell otherwise. Invading almost every statistical domain, Cruz paced the Tigers in scoring (16.2 ppg), rebounds (12.8 rpg), and blocks (1.2 bpg) to emerge as the league’s most efficient player with a 23.8 per cent rating.
Worth the wait The road to donning the black-gold-and-white jersey was rough for the 20-year-old Cruz. On the verge of being elevated into the active roster by then coach Aric del Rosario, personal and medical reasons sidelined Cruz in what could have been his first UAAP stint.
The following year, Cruz made it to the RP Youth Team that saw action in the Asian Basketball Championship in India. He was already drafted into the Tigers’ UAAP lineup, but academic deficiencies barred him from strutting his wares.
As a result, Cruz deliberately withdrew from the “Basketball Without Borders Asia” circuit in Beijing, China to focus on his studies.
Pouring in extra effort in academics to regain his playing eligibility, it took only a matter of time before Cruz could prove his worth as a valuable addition to the Tigers’ roster.
Right after finally joining the Tigers’ fold, Cruz instantly made an impact as he bagged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award to underscore UST’s title-clinching feat in the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) meet in Pangasinan last February.
Highlight reel
Tagged by coach Pido Jarencio as a “force to reckon with” come Season 69, Cruz’s ascension to the UST frontline signaled the rebirth of dominance in the Tigers’ inside game.
Although the Tigers debuted with a 92-94 loss against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, Cruz’s 14 points and 15 rebounds served as a teaser to what his 6-foot-5 frame could do on both ends of the court.
Proving that his first game was not a fluke, Cruz imposed his might underneath the basket and erupted for 25 markers and 14 boards in his second game to lift UST past then defending champion Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, 90-87, for the Tigers’ first win. The impressive effort was followed by a 22-point, 10-rebound finish in UST’s 91-77 bashing of pre-season favorite, University of the East (UE) Red Warriors.
Plagued by typhoid fever, the Tigers went deep into the UAAP jungle with a lowly 2-5 card after the first round. Despite UST’s predicament, Cruz remained consistent, registering “double-double” averages of 12.5 points and 11.8 rebounds in the Tigers’ four straight defeats.
With the stigma of a 78-114 loss against the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the first round still fresh from memory, Cruz vowed payback aggravated by a measly nine-point and six-rebound performance in that forgettable night.
In UST’s grudge match against Ateneo, Cruz nailed three pivotal baskets in overtime as the Tigers hacked out an 88-80 shocker to end the Eagles’ eight-game winning streak. He finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds to backstop Allan Evangelista and Dylan Ababou, who scored 30 and 18 points.
Carrying his offensive wrath against UE in the Final Four, Cruz defied the double-teaming defensive effort of Mark Borboran and Elmer Espiritu en route to a career-best 27 points and 18 rebounds as UST repulsed UE, 82-81, to seal its finals date with Ateneo.
Eye of the storm
Facing Ateneo in the finals, Cruz recalled the highly physical mood of his defenders Rabeth Al-Hussaini, Ford Arao and Martin Quimson, whose arm-clipping ploys appeared to recognize him as a lethal offensive weapon.
“Matinding contact ang ibinibigay nila sa akin every game kasi gusto lang nila akong mapikon para maaga akong matanggal sa laro,” he said. “Pero kahit ano’ng gawin nila, hindi nila nasira “˜yung concentration ko.”
Cruz felt the weight of Ateneo’s tight marking in Game 3 when he fouled out with still four minutes left in regulation. Despite hauling 13 rebounds, he only scored nine points in 30 minutes of action.
“Nag-ingat talaga ako na “˜wag ma-foul out pero matindi lang talaga ang banggaan sa ilalim at kailangan kong makuha “˜yung mga rebounds,” Cruz said.
Yet instead of sulking on the bench, Cruz joined the Thomasian faithful in pushing his teammates to continue the fight, even telling fellow center Mark Canlas during a time-out to box out Ateneo’s big men.
His moral-boosting ways paid off when Canlas rose out of nowhere to score on an overtime-sending putback with 37 seconds left in the fourth quarter that tied the count at 64. And the rest is history.
Far from considering himself “exceptional,” Cruz believes that a team’s fate does not rest solely on the shoulders of any one individual.
“Lahat kami mahalaga dahil may role na dapat gampanan ang bawat isa,” he said. “Nanalo kami dahil nagtutulungan kami.”
