Top rookie pick Holt undeterred by mediocre PBA debut

MANILA, Philippines -- Despite struggling in his PBA debut, No. 1 draft pick Stephen Holt of Terrafirma is not worried.

Holt finished with 11 points on 2-of-9 field goal shooting in the Dyip’s 108-103 loss against the NorthPort Batang Pier in the PBA Commissioner's Cup Friday.

He missed all five of his 3-point attempts in the game.

The guard underscored that he had a good showing in the PBA preseason, and he will find his mark eventually.

“I know the spotlight’s on me, being the first pick and there are certain expectations that are put on our group. I’m still going to embrace that. It’s just one loss, but I thought I had a pretty good preseason,” he said.

“I got better every single game, had high-scoring games [during the preseason],” he added.

The rookie said that he and the rest of the Dyip cannot be deterred by just a loss.

“So I'm not going to let this one game affect [me.] I am known as a shooter, I put in work my whole entire career,” Holt stressed.

“Being a pro, it’s (about) making adjustments. If my shot isn’t falling, I still have to shoot it, try to find ways to help the team out. Defensively, I thought I played pretty well."

While he struggled from the field, Holt hauled down six rebounds, dished out five assists and stole the ball four times.

“I just wanted to do a little bit of everything, gets steals, rebounds, assists. I was able to get to the free throw line. Tonight, my shot didn’t fall. I was zero-of-five from three. I thought I had some good looks,” he said.

“I’m just trying to feel it out with the team, just got to be a little more aggressive, take some precious off of Juami [Tiongson] and Thomas [de Thaey] and try to score more. My shot wasn’t falling so I’m just trying to do positives in other ways. We just came up short in the end."

The 31-year-old added that the team will go back to the drawing board and prepare for their next games.

“It is just one loss, we can’t put our heads down. It’s a long season.”

Terrafirma will try to notch their first win of the season when they face the Blackwater Bossing next Wednesday, November 15, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.