Jervy up ahead in MVP race

By Ian Brion
Business Mirror
September 17, 2007

While his team is on the brink of a failed title-retention campaign, Jervy Cruz is on the verge of solidifying his tag as the top collegiate player in the country today by becoming the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 70 men’s basketball tournament.

The hulking University of Santo Tomas (UST) slotman looms as the runaway winner of the most prestigious individual plum after topping the Statistical Points (SP) category—the major criteria for the award—at the end of the two-round eliminations.

Cruz garnered an all-around value of 75.86 SPs to stamp his class over the field of 120 players, according to UAAP’s official records-keeper, the Smart Bro-sponsored Pro Stats.

The six-foot-four former RP Youth stalwart is the league’s leading rebounder with 15.4 per game. He is also averaging a league third-best 16.7 points an outing for a mammoth double-double that carried the Growling Tigers to eight victories against six defeats in the regular season.

The defending champion is set to battle the Far Eastern University (FEU) in a knockout match for the last slot to the tournament’s next stage—the stepladder phase—today.

SPs are computed by adding a player’s points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and won game bonus (15 per win), minus technical fouls (5 points) and ejections (10) divided by the number of games played.

At far second is Adamson’s King Falcon Patrick Cabahug with 62.57 SPs. The veteran sniper made the most of his squad’s lackluster bid by emerging as the league’s top scorer at 21.3 points per game. He also averaged a fourth-best 8.4 rebounds.

Next is Edwin Asoro of the also-ran National University with 60.79 SPs, followed by La Salle’s Joseph Casio and Rico Maierhofer with 55.79 and 53.43, respectively.

Rounding out the top 10 are Ateneo’s Ford Arao (51.93), University of the East (UE)’s Mark Borboran (51.21), FEU’s Marnel Baracael (50.21), Ateneo’s Chris Tiu (49.14) and La Salle’s TY Tang (48.93).

Ric Cawaling is the leading candidate for the equally esteemed Rookie of the Year honor. The Tamaraws’ top sniper accumulated 36.64 SPs to lead erstwhile frontrunner Mike Gamboa of the University of the Philippines (UP) and Ateneo’s Kirk Long, who have 32.36 and 28.33, respectively.

Besides the SPs, the individual awards, which also include the Mythical Five, are decided by the votes from the league officials, players and coaches, as well as that of the media covering the tournament.

NU’s Jonathan Fernandez is the league’s second top points producer with a 17.6-point clip followed by Cruz’s 16.7 and Casio’s 15.0.

Besides Cruz, Asoro is the only other player to average a double-double as the Bulldogs’ power-forward had 13.1 points and 11.1 rebounds.

UST’s Japs Cuan is the league’s best playmaker, dishing out 4.6 assists per game, while Asoro is also the league’s chief thief with 1.7 steals and Ateneo’s Nonoy Baclao is the top shot-blocker at 1.7 blocks per game.