IT’S what Gilas Pilipinas exactly missed from Cjay Perez in the last window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
The San Miguel guard announced his comeback to the national team in a huge way, scoring all of his 16 points in the second half of Gilas’ classic 82-81 overtime win over Jordan Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Perez became the focal point of the Gilas offense at crunch time, scoring one basket after the other with constant rim pressure, slashing and driving inside to challenge the big men of Jordan.
READ: Gilas rides clutch KQ three to pull off gritty OT win over Jordan
His layup with 45 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 72-all and sent it into overtime.
He then capped his heroics not by scoring the game’s biggest basket, but by making what would be the game-winning play possible when he picked out an open Kevin Quimbao for the go-ahead three in the last 13 seconds of the extra period.
“I just did my thing. Attacking the basket just to make my teammates open,” he said of the role he played in the crucial win that snapped Gilas’ four-game skid in the qualifiers.
The 32-year-old Perez was 8-of-16 from the field and added four rebounds.
Ironically, his sole assist in the game came at the right place, at the right time.
“Zach (Sotto) set a balls screen and I turned to the corner and saw KQ fill in the wing, and he made the shot,” said Perez, who was left out in the final 12-man roster during the third window when Gilas went to New Zealand and Australia.
Coach Tim Cone said it was good Perez didn’t force the issue after Jordan clamped down on the shooting guard’s driving lane.
“He made the great decision to kick out to KQ,” said Cone of Perez. “It was really a function of him getting into the rim consistently against their defense. They had adjusted their defense that he made the adjustment himself into that pass to KQ.”
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