The 5-foot-8 Cruz will play along with players that stand 6 foot over such as Rohndell Domminic Goodwin, Konstantinos Vasileiadis, and Brandon Spearman.

He is no stranger to the team’s system as Cruz is also part of Al Rayyan’s developmental U16 team where his coach handpicked him from the youth team to be part of the senior’s rooster.

“Pag tinignan, para lang siyang isang Pinoy na nasa court kasama ‘yung mga foreign players. Part siya ng youth team ng Al Rayyan, pero may one time na tinawagan ako ng coach para tanungin kung pwede siyang isama sa seniors roster, kasi kailangan daw nila,” Melbin Cruz, the father of Jacey shared to SPIN Life.

“Tinanong ko bakit si Jacey. E bata pa, nakikitaan daw ng coaches ng potential kasi mabilis sa court,” he continued.

At a young age, Cruz was awakened to the world of Basketball by playing in his school’s intramurals which lead him to turn pro.

“Sobrang laki ng difference ‘pag pro kalaban mo at pag mga ka-age mo, una iba yung laki nila, may natututunan ka, kaya, ‘pag humarap ka ulit sa mga kapantay mo, mas alam mo na paano ka lulusot,” Jacey said based on his on hand experience.

And although his family settled in Qatar since 2010, the cager is still a proud Filipino where he idolized some PBA players.

“Nilulook up ko na player as a San Miguel fan, si June Mar Fajardo. ‘Pag umuuwi kami, nanonood kami ng games ng PBA sa Araneta,” he shared.