Rivalry paused as Perez joins Bolick’s trek to pro league

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

Of all the times that the careers of CJ Perez and Robert Bolick intersected, there is one point that makes the Lyceum star feel like his career is irreversibly linked to that of his NCAA rival from San Beda.

“Personally, I feel like we’re motivated to prove the teams who who didn’t take enough risk with us [and see] what we’re really made of,” Perez told the Inquirer on Friday.

“We bounced around schools, right?” he added.

While Bolick spent a lot of minutes on the bench with La Salle before blossoming into a clutch leader with the Lions, Perez jumped from San Sebastian to Ateneo before finding a home with the Pirates.

It is just one of the similarities both cagers share.

They’ve battled in the last two NCAA title duels—Bolick won both—and were named to the national team pool for the 2023 Basketball World Cup, which the country is hosting.

Add one more: On Sunday, they both step on the same stage—one that opens a new arc in their hoop stories.

Perez, Bolick and Ray Parks Jr., are projected to be the top three picks in Sunday’s PBA Rookie Draft.

They’ve come across each other a lot of times that Perez joked: “Actually, during the Draft combine, I no longer wanted to guard him.”

“We’ve been doing that for quite some time. Though I’m honored to have played against Robert in my collegiate career.”

But whatever rivalry they had in college will have to wait to blossom in the pros.

“I think we’ll have to start over. We’re all rookies going to take up roles in the PBA. Very rare are the ones who are immediate stars in the league,” he noted.  “There’s no rivalry, for now.”

Perez, now 25, puts everything else on hold as he focuses on his newborn child and the the milestone he’s about to hit next week.

“I still can’t believe I’m going to the PBA. I’ve been in college for quite a while so I wasn’t really expecting I’ll be here,” he said.