AT least on this night, Chris McCullough proved he's the better player than TnT Katropa counterpart Terrence Jones.
The San Miguel Beer reinforcement outplayed Jones for the first time in the PBA Commissioner's Cup finals and it couldn't have come at a better time as the 99-94 Game 5 win on Wednesday put the team on the verge of winning a second straight championship this conference.
McCollough finished with the same output as Jones with 35 points, but came through when it mattered most after outscoring the Best Import of the conference 19-3 in the payoff period.
The heroics of the 24-year-old McCullough, a first round pick of the Brooklyn Nets in the 2015 NBA draft, put the Beermen ahead in the best-of-seven series for the first time, 3-2, and just a win away from reclaiming the title in the mid-season conference.
McCullough wants this championship badly that he didn't mind losing to Jones the coveted Best Import award, which the New York native thought he could have won had he arrived a little bit earlier for the conference.
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McCullough was a late replacement by the Beermen for Charles Rhodes.
"If I was here as long as Terrence Jones, I probably would have got it to be honest about it," he said as the 27-year-old Jones, also a first round NBA pick by the Houston Rockets in the 2012 draft, had been with the Katropa since Day 1 of the conference.
"But like I said, I want a championship, and I don't care about the Best Import award."
At the same time having come over here a little bit late, McCullough felt he's not getting the same respect Jones had from game officials.
"I don't get the same call T-Jones gets, but it is what it is. Like I said, we got the win and finish the game," said the San Miguel import.
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But Jones has the respect of McCollough.
"We can't really stop (him). So the most we could do is to contain him," he said. "He's an NBA player. He's good obviously. We just want to contain him and not let him shoot a lot of threes."
While McCullough played the entire 48 minutes in Game 5, Jones has been playing heavy minutes for the Katropa and suited up the entire game for the second straight time in the series.
McCullough hopes there's no more left in the tank for Jones come Game 6 on Friday when the Beermen are expected to go for the kill.
"I hope not (on whether Jones still have something left in the tank). I'm younger than him, so I got a little more energy than him," he said.
"But I'm not worry about anything he's doing. I'm worry about my team and I'm just trying to get and win a championship," said McCullough.(RG)
