MANILA, Philippines — He beat them, so now he's joining them.
SJ Belangel is headed to play in South Korea with the Daegu KOGAS Pegasus for his first stint as a professional after being the bane of Korean basketball fans with his game winner in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers in Clark last year.
Related Stories
After having been known as one of the national team's fiercest opponent, Belangel hopes that he'll be seen as an ally.
"Nung lumabas yung news na [I'll be playing there], 'yun agad 'yung pinakita," he said, pertaining to the clip of his buzzer-beating triple that gave Gilas an 81-78 win in that game.
"Tapos madaming comments about it and yung mga captions na natatawa ako actually. But at the same time, I'm just blessed, blessed enough na na-answer yung prayers ko na I'll be playing internationally," he added.
The two-time UAAP champion will be testing the waters in Korea where he will be the first-ever Filipino player to compete in the pro hoops league.
Though they have rooted against him before, the Ateneo Blue Eagles product is eager to have them on his side this time.
"For me, I'm just excited and motivataed to play there. Siguro yung fans, I'm just gonna enjoy the fans there," said Belangel.
"Even though iba nga nasaktan, pero at the same time, I'll be playing in their team. So I'm just excited," he added.