Coming out of San Beda High School, no one questioned the offensive prowess of Arvin Tolentino. However, the criticism leveled at him has about his efforts in crashing the board.
During his first two years at the Ateneo de Manila University, the 6-foot-5 forward averaged 4.1 rebounds to go along with 6.6 points. But in his first year with Far Eastern University, the 21-year-old has increased his rebounding norms, averaging 6.2 rebounds in the first five games of the Tamaraws.
And Tolentino needed to work harder on the board because of a challenge imposed on him by first-year FEU head coach Olsen Racela.
“Well alam naman natin kung ano ang i-proprovide ni Arvin offensively,” shared the PBA legend as Tolentino is averaging 13.4 points this season.
“Palagi kong sinasabi sa kanya, it’s those intangibles ang hinahanap ko sa kanya.”
Wednesday afternoon, Tolentino once again earned his minutes after a good string of games. This time around, he was able to pick up his career-high of 23 points while grabbing six rebounds — helping FEU win the rebounding battle against the National University Bulldogs, 55-44.
“The more he plays defense, the more he gets rebounds, the more he boxes out and gets rebounds, ‘di ba, Arvin? The more minutes he will get,” quipped Racela, as Tolentino sat beside him during the post-game of FEU’s 90-83 win.
Still, Racela is hoping that Tolentino’s heater run won’t just be a spurt, that it becomes a thing in FEU’s Season 80 campaign.
“I think he’s giving the effort. The effort is there. He just has to be more consistent sa effort niya.”
