By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Ateneo Blue Eagles’ superstar and Gilas Pilipinas young cadet SJ Belangel is ready to make history to become the first pure Filipino to play in the Korean Basketball League.
Belangel finally ended the speculations and confirmed his next step in his young basketball journey after failing to complete Ateneo’s UAAP men’s basketball four-peat when they lost against the hungry UP Fighting Maroons squad in the grand finals.
Despite having two eligible playing years left with the Blue Eagles, Belangel will fly to Korea and will suit up for the Daegu KOGAS Pegasus team as an Asian import.
The savvy veteran point guard is no stranger to the Korean basketball fans after breaking their hearts during the 2021 FIBA Asian Cup qualifiers held in the Philippines when he buried the game-winning three-pointer off one leg, 81-78.
It was also a historic win for Gilas Pilipinas after breaking South Korea’s eight-year winning streak against them and was made sweeter after sweeping them 2-0 during the bubble.
SoKor’s kryptonite would then continue to impress in Gilas’ next international basketball stints including the 2020 FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament when they nearly upset the Serbian national team led by NBA’s Boban Marjanovic and Milos Teodosic.
After trailing 34-25 in the last minutes of the second quarter, Belangel and the rest of the young Filipino hoopers stormed back in the fourth quarter and regained the lead, 74-73, after RJ Abarrientos’ layup.
Serbia took back the lead again after Marjanovic’s dunk but Justine Baltazar came right away with a sweeping hook shot in the right baseline to trim their deficit to just one point, 76-77.
However, Gilas’s defense eventually ran out of steam against Serbia’s offensive machinery.
Belangel will be seeking to help the Pegasus team improve after only finishing fifth during the last season of the basketball league.
