AS opportunity came knocking at Arjan Dela Cruz's doors, the 5-foot-9 rookie point guard from San Sebastian was quick to pounce on that chance.
With the departure of veteran guards Ryan Costelo and Lorenzo Navarro, Dela Cruz was quickly thrown into the spotlight as coach Egay Macaraya tries to spare scorer RK Ilagan of the ballhandling duties.
The rookie playmaker sees no problem in handling that huge responsibility for the Stags, especially with the trust that Macaraya gave to him.
"Yung responsibility ko as a point guard ay para sa aming lahat, hindi lang para sa akin," said Dela Cruz.
"Mas nag-mature ako ngayon dahil sa kompyansang ibinibigay sa akin ng buong team,” he added.
After a quiet first game in the loss to Lyceum where he finished with just two points and two assists, Dela Cruz wasted no time in bouncing back in their 85-78 win over College of St. Benilde on Friday.
Dela Cruz ran their offense to near perfection, finishing with 10 assists to go along six points and four rebounds as a starter in 24 minutes of action.
While Dela Cruz is satisfied with how they performed, he insists that his performance was nothing special considering that they’ve been preparing for this for a long time.
"Nothing special kasi pinakita lang namin yung everyday training, yung mga preparations na ginagawa namin para sa games.”
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