Terrafirma’s young guard Mark Nonoy cherished the opportunity of playing against his childhood idol Jayson Castro of TNT.
Not only did the No. 10 overall pick in the last Draft realize his dream of sharing the court with Castro but also made quite an impression when the Dyip scored a shocking upset over the Tropang Giga, 117-108, in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner’s Cup Wednesday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Nonoy dropped a career-best 33 points to give Terrafirma some semblance of pride to end its campaign with a 1-11 win-loss record.
And he did it playing as a perfect spoiler Castro’s 700th game in the PBA.
“I’m just inspired playing against Jayson Castro for the first time,” Nonoy said.
The 24-year-old Nonoy shot 10-of-13 from the field and held his own against the TNT older statesman.
“I’ve been watching him since grade school. He’s one of the PBA players where I get my inspiration,” he added.
“I was confident because I wanted to challenge myself facing my idol. I’m just thankful I get to play well.”
Nonoy, who added four rebounds and four assists to lead the Dyip to their first and only win in the team’s final game of the conference, even got rewarded by Castro after the game.
The 38-year-old Tropang Giga court general gave Nonoy some advice about his game.
“He told me to hone my decision-making skills and control my speed,” he said.
Terrafirma snapped TNT’s six-game winning run and sent the Tropang Giga reeling down from the top spot down to no. 5.
The Tropang Giga were the only team the Dyip had beaten in the season-opener Governors’ Cup.