{"id":409800,"date":"2024-06-20T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=409800"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Jericho-won-t-join-Team-NMI-in-Majuro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Jericho-won-t-join-Team-NMI-in-Majuro\/","title":{"rendered":"Jericho won\u2019t join Team NMI in Majuro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former CNMI national cager Jericho Cruz will no longer suit up for the NMI Men\u2019s National Basketball Team in the 2024 Micronesian Games even after his team in the Philippine Basketball Association, San Miguel Beer, ended its campaign last Sunday with a Game 6 loss to eventual champions Meralco Bolts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told coach Ruf [Rufino Aguon], I told James [Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Association president James Lee] after the game (Game 6) that I\u2019m ready but they told me there are no more flights available or something. I won\u2019t come anymore because they told me they can\u2019t book a flight for me to go there (Majuro) anymore so I said \u2018OK,\u2019\u201d he told Saipan Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20191\u201d former Marianas High School Dolphin, who also plays for Guam in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments, said it\u2019s unfortunate because he believes he could\u2019ve been an X factor for the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I could\u2019ve been a big help to the team. My teammates from the Guam National Basketball Team are not going as they\u2019re bringing a very young team,\u201d said Cruz, who has so far averaged 10.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 314 total games in the PBA.<\/p>\n

Prior to the decision to not bring him to the 2024 Micronesian Games, Cruz already told Saipan Tribune<\/em> about his commitment to the CNMI national team, saying \u201cI just want to give back, man. I want to show them that my heart is always with Saipan [and the CNMI]. That\u2019s where I started my basketball career and I want to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz, who averages 14.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists playing in 10 games for Guam, said he understands the NMIBF\u2019s decision not to bring him to Majuro.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking there might be no more flights available. So, I don\u2019t really feel bad about the decision by [the NMIBF] and coach Ruf to not bring me to the Micro Games,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, Cruz thinks it\u2019s a missed opportunity for him to once again don the latte stone and mwarmwar flag of the CNMI in the Micro Games after he also represented the islands in the 2008 FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted to play and I really want to give the CNMI a gold medal in the Micronesian Games before I retire. I\u2019m already 33 and turning 34 in October. My goal is really to give the islands\u2014the CNMI\u2014a gold medal or at least any medal before I finally hang it up. I\u2019m not LeBron so I cannot play [until I\u2019m 40],\u201d he told Saipan Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Lee, for his part, confirmed with Saipan Tribune<\/em> the scarcity of flights indeed led to the decision not to bring Cruz anymore to the Marshall Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were very limited available flights from the start going to Majuro. More so at the last minute. Jericho could maybe have to go through Australia from the Philippines, but that would have cost almost $10,000 just for the airfare. Leaving the island after the games is also another story. Probably, he won’t be able to leave until the first week of July,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cruz reassured the CNMI community that he remains steadfast in representing the islands he grew up in and developed his passion for basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really willing to play and I want to represent the islands I grew up in, but things didn\u2019t go our way and things didn\u2019t go my way. I really want to go out there and play with the boys. I\u2019m still in their group chat. If I can fly now, I can go there as in right now and go play ball with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jericho Cruz in action for the San Miguel Beermen in the PBA.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former CNMI national cager Jericho Cruz will no longer suit up for the NMI Men\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}