Toto Jose is relishing his chance to play significant minutes by giving Meralco a huge lift in their Game 2 win against the San Miguel.
Jose provided the much-needed spark in the final frame which allowed the Bolts to build a 97-90 advantage and enough to fend off SMB’s fightback behind June Mar Fajardo.
Jose scored seven of his 10 fourth quarter points in a decisive 9-2 run, first on a layup before draining a huge trey. The 6-foot-4 forward wound up with 13 points before fouling out after banging bodies against SMB’s huge frontline that featured Fajardo, Mo Tautuaa, Vic Manuel and Rodney Brondial.
“Really big (Jose’s contributions). Entire conference, actually, Toto has been really big for us. We sat him out so I invested in playing him early in the conference and it’s paying off right now because he has a lot of confidence,” said Meralco head coach Norman Black.
Black admitted that Jose has been providing them the defense and energy they need to outplay the Beermen but it was his contributions on the offensive end that gave them the much-needed lift to come away with the equalizer in the series.
“He’s our energizer bunny out there all the time moving, very active on the floor and doesn't back down to anybody so he helps us great defensively but today he gave us a little bit from the offensive end,” added Black.