Jio Jalalon admitted that he was trying to get into the head of Arwind Santos in their exchange late in Game 2 of the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
With San Miguel firmly ahead, 87-71, with three minutes remaining, Ian Sangalang bumped Santos that led to an offensive foul, an apparent show of frustration for the Magnolia side.
As emotions ran a high, Jalalon sneaked in a hit on Santos and the two were slapped with a double technical.
“I know that the game was over, so I was just trying to piss him off,” bared the Hotshots sophomore in Filipino. “I was the one who came to him, and he just pushed me off. I was just trying my luck.”
Unfortunately, his antics came to no avail as Magnolia suffered the 77-92 Game 2 defeat to San Miguel, that tied up the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup at one game apiece.
As tough as the loss was, Jalalon shared that the first two games gave the Hotshots a huge lesson knowing that if they need to stun the Beermen anew, they couldn’t let themselves fall behind big.
“We need to focus on the first half and pour it all there,” he said, as Magnolia fell behind by as much as 21, 71-50 with less than three minutes remaining in the third period.
“Coach Chito (Victolero) reminded us that we couldn’t always pull off the comeback and just play well in the fourth quarter. We need to play well from the first quarter,” he said. “We’re not superheroes. We were just lucky in Game 1 that we were able to come back, but in this game, they really protected their lead.”
Game 3 is on Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.