JERICHO Cruz is officially reunited with college coach Leo Austria after signing a contract with San Miguel.
The deal was signed on Tuesday at the San Miguel head office that guarantees the tough playing guard a three-year contract.
Cruz's contract with NLEX expired on Monday, giving him the leeway to play for any team as an unrestricted free agent.
At San Miguel, Cruz was welcomed by team governor Robert Non and team manager Gee Abanilla, while being accompanied by representative Danny Espiritu.
The 31-year-old guard expressed his desire to play for the powerhouse San Miguel Beer unit under Austria, who handled Cruz in college while both were still with Adamson.
A former Falcon teammate of Cruz in Rodney Brondial already joined Austria at San Miguel earlier also as an unrestricted free agent.
Jericho Cruz joins a loaded SMB squad.
Cruz's transfer to San Miguel also meant joining forces again with close pal Terrence Romeo.
Cruz and Romeo forged a strong bond together during their stay with TNT Tropang Giga, which eventually let the two players go.
During the 2019 Philippine Cup quarterfinals between San Miguel and TNT, Romeo dedicated his performance to Cruz and to another former TNT teammate RR Garcia. Cruz was relegated by the Tropang Giga to the injury list back then.
Cruz will be eligible to play for the Beermen on Thursday when they battle the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the main game of a Governors Cup doubleheader at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
In his final three games with NLEX, Cruz came up big for the Road Warriors by averaging 18.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in securing a three-game winning run by the team and a spot in the conference quarterfinals.
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