Malonzo enjoys FIBA journey

Jamie Malonzo is enjoying his stint with Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

Malonzo, the high-flying forward of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the Philippine Basketball Association, said he wanted to dazzle the crowd while helping the team come up with an impressive performance in this tourney that stakes tickets to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup that the country will host this August.

He credited his Ginebra teammate Scottie Thompson for giving him open looks that resulted to several highlight reels during their 107-96 victory over Lebanon last Friday at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

"I think my goal was just to have fun. I just want to go out there the hardest I could. That's what I did. It was fun for sure playing for the fans," Malonzo said.

"Scottie is always going to make the right plays. That's the kind of point guard that he is. So, he found me and, of course, I want to give what the fans want to see. Highlights and exciting basketball."

Malonzo said there were no butterflies in his stomach when they tackled Lebanon as the cavernous stadium also served as host in Game 7 of their best-of-seven Commissioner's Cup finals series against Bay Area last January.

"It was different. I had a blue jersey instead of a red jersey. As far as the fans and the feeling of the big arena, and just everybody there, I sort of felt home," he said.

Playing in front of that crowd again, it's definitely exciting. I played there in Game 7. It's definitely a familiar feeling."

The former De La Salle University cager certainly was efficient not only in scoring but making the crowd go wild.

In front of around 30,000 spectators, Malonzo scored four of his 15 points from a pair of electrifying two-handed dunks in the third quarter.

He was also able to showcase his range as well, scoring three of Gilas' 17 three-pointers against the Cedars, who were missing big names like Wael Arakji, naturalized player Jonathan Arledge and former National Basketball Association player Norvel Pelle.

Gilas head coach Chot Reyes said Malonzo did a tremendous job serving as energy guy, something he wants to see when they battle Jordan on Monday at the same venue.

"Off the bench those two guys, because they're basically our bigs off the bench after June Mar (Fajardo) and Justin (Brownlee). Basically, it was only Jamie and Mason (Amos) that we had because we were decimated with the lack of our other big players," Reyes said.

"The fact that they both played well was a big factor."