After his stint in the 2017 FIBA Afrobasket held in Tunisia, reigning UAAP Most Valuable Player Ben Mbala made Wednesday night his showcase, showing the added weapons he had gained during the continental meet.
He only missed five of his 16 attempts from the field, and as usual, was a force to reckon with in the paint.
The Cameroon National Team player also showed his improved range and sunk two of his three-pointers, his first coming a minute and 20 seconds into the contest.
“Talking about my threes, I was really working on it during the off-season if you guys have noticed.
“I feel like I needed the confidence to be able to take them and make them. I was looking at the Afrobasket where I can play as a three, four and give up those shots,” said the 22-year-old who set his UAAP-high of 32 points to go along with 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Going up against last season’s runner-up in the MVP race Adamson’s Papi Sarr, and wide-bodied centers Kristian Bernardo and Keith Zaldivar, Mbala seemed like he was in a league of his own after facing former NBA players and the best big men in Africa.
“They’re smart, they’re skilled. Their basketball IQs are really high.
“You gotta find a way to match-up and compete. And I’d like to say that I was able to learn a lot from them,” Mbala expressed about the bodies Adamson threw at him.
But despite his stellar showing, the foreign student-athlete does not want to settle with his team’s performance, especially since the game was something coach Aldin Ayo described as a “bad win.”
“I feel like we’re kinda sluggish, we didn’t stick to the game plan and we were not able to execute during the third and almost all of the fourth quarter,” the 6-foot-7 said, as they had allowed Adamson to cut La Salle’s lead from as much as 24 points to seven.
“But it’s the third game of the season and we still have a lot of time to work on our mistakes.”
Still, Ben Mbala’s return is good news to the faithful in Taft, but probably bad news for everyone else.
By: Danine Cruz
