RJ Abarrientos and Dave Ildefonso are laser-focused on bringing home the 43rd William Jones Cup for Strong Group-Pilipinas.
After all, they grew up watching Philippine teams compete in the Taiwan meet.
And they don’t want to suffer the same heartbreak as some Philippine teams have experienced before, yearning to win the Philippines’ seventh Jones Cup title.
Strong Group faces Chinese Taipei White on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. before closing out the tournament against Chinese Taipei Blue on Sunday at 7:00 p.m.
“Ang goal namin now is mabalik ‘yung Jones Cup sa bansa natin. Nagpapasalamat ako kay Boss Frank (Lao), Boss Jacob (Lao), at Coach Charles (Tiu) na ma-experience ko ito bago ako pumunta sa PBA. Only way na makabawi ako sa kanila is mapanalo ‘tong Jones Cup,” said Abarrientos.
“My goal right now first is to help the team and Coach Charles win the Jones Cup. I’m going to do whatever it takes and do whatever is needed of me on the court,” added Ildefonso.
Strong Group clinched a top-two finish in the tournament with two games remaining after beating Japan’s Under-22 team, 92-79, on Friday.
Abarrientos is averaging 7.8 points on a 40.6-percent shooting clip from deep, a team-high 5.7 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game.
Ildefonso, on the other hand, is averaging 5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.
“SGA really helped me a lot para I can get more runs under my legs and more wind in my lungs. I really need the games and the runs. It really helped me prepare for the PBA,” said Ildefonso, who played sparingly during his two-year stay with KBL team Suwon KT Sonicboom.
Once the tournament is done, Abarrientos and Ildefonso will go their separate ways.
Abarrientos will head to Ginebra while Ildefonso will go to Northport.
The 5-foot-11 RJ is excited for what lies ahead as he embraces the pressure of living up to his uncle Johnny’s legacy.
“Sobrang excited to play with Ginebra. Gusto ko na makasama ‘yung mga coach lalo na si Coach Tim Cone at Coach Olsen Racela na dati kong head coach sa FEU. Of course, gusto ko na rin makasama ang mga kuya ko na sina Kuya Scottie (Thompson), Kuya Jamie (Malonzo), at Kuya Japeth (Aguilar). So ganun ako ka-excited,” said RJ.
“Siyempre, nakaka-pressure lalo na naging under si Tito Johnny kay Coach Tim. Sabi nga ni Coach Tim ‘di ba na if I can be half the player like Tito Johnny was, I’ll be a great player. Hoping talaga ako na ma-match ko yung expectations nila sa akin by giving them championships.”
Ditto for Dave, who is the son of multiple-time PBA MVP Danny Ildefonso, an assistant coach at Converge.
“I’m very excited for my new PBA team. I’m happy that Northport selected me as the fifth pick. I’m looking forward to repaying their trust because they picked me so high. I was just really surprised that they picked me. I’m going to work on my game more to repay their trust,” said Dave.
“I’m just excited to bring this experience with me in the upcoming PBA season.”
Despite their excitement, the duo will give their all to bring Strong Group back home with gold.
