Kent Salado. PBA IMAGES
Picking up where Jio Jalalon left off, Kent Salado is keeping the ship afloat for coach Jerry Codiñera.
Dazzling in the preseason tournaments for Arellano, the 5-foot-9 guard also brought out the goods for Racal on Thursday, racking up a triple-double in its 140-90 rout of Zark’s Burger in the 2017 PBA D-League Foundation Cup.
Trotting out a performance reminiscent of his former backcourt partner, Salado finished with 11 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds to become only the third player to achieve the rare feat following BDO-NU’s Bobby Ray Parks and Phoenix’s Mike Tolomia twice.
“That’s what I want to do because in our team, we have lots of scorers. We have (Mac) Tallo, (Rian) Ayonayon, other guys who can score. Right now, what I want to focus on is my passing and rebounding,” he said in Filipino.
The Cagayan de Oro native exuded confidence when he hit the court on Thursday, orchestrating Codiñera’s gameplan to a tee. That’s why the statline didn’t surprise the rest of the Alibaba as they saw how hard Salado played in his 23 minutes on the floor.
“I work hard every time I enter the game. I don’t want to be a ballhog and I know I have to share the ball. I’m also confident because coach kept on telling my teammates to shoot whenever they get a pass from me. That’s what makes this triple-double more special,” he said.
But Salado’s time with Racal is numbered as he is set to play his last game for Racal against Cignal HD on June 20, before finally shifting his full focus with the Chiefs for the upcoming NCAA Season 93.
And he made it clear that he’s looking at that duel against the Hawkeyes as a title clash as the Tilem Masters seek to get back at their Aspirants’ Cup Finals tormentors.
“I will treat that as a championship game. I want to gain redemption against them,” Salado said. “That’s going to be my last game so I want to leave the team without a loss.”