For the second straight season, the Most Valuable Player in the UAAP High School Boys’ Basketball Tournament will come from National University Nazareth School.
Collins Akowe was crowned as the MVP of the tournament on Wednesday at the Filoil Ecooil Centre prior to Game 2 of the Finals.
Current Bulldog Reinhard Jumamoy, who also came from the Bullpups program, was last season’s MVP.
The 6-foot-10 Cameroonian big man is also the first foreign student-athlete to win the top individual award of the league.
Akowe tallied a whopping 96.714 statistical points (SP), tallying averages of 17.14 points, 21.07 rebounds, 2.21 blocks, and 1.64 assists per game.
Akowe’s main goal is not to win this award, but to give the crown back to NUNS.
NUNS lost Game 1 of the best-of-three finals to Adamson University last Sunday, 77-71.
“I promised my coach I would give him the championship. I made that promise from the very beginning,” said Akowe, a Grade 11 center. “I need to fulfill my promise. I need to give it all I have to win the championship.”
Joining Akowe in the Mythical Team are De La Salle Zobel’s Kieffer Alas (89.727 SP), Ateneo High School’s Kristian Porter (85.786), University of Santo Tomas’ Doy Dungo (81.286), and Adamson’s Tebol Garcia (72.385).
Alas, a Grade 10 forward, put up numbers of 20.36 points, 10.82 rebounds, 5.27 assists, and 1.27 steals in 11 games played.
Meanwhile, graduating forward Porter – who made his second consecutive mythical team appearance – logged averages of 17.86 points, 15.79 rebounds, 2.14 steals, and 1.71 assists per game.
Dungo, a transferee from San Beda-Taytay, averaged 14.86 points, 8.07 rebounds, 4.36 assists, and 2.79 steals in his sole year at UST.
Finally, Garcia, a Grade 12 floor general from Pampanga, normed 12.92 points, 5.23 assists, 3.08 rebounds, and 1.92 steals.
He becomes the first Baby Falcon to make it to the all-UAAP team since former league MVP Jake Figueroa back in Season 82.
University of the Philippines Integrated School’s Ethan Egea was the Rookie of the Year with 58.500 SP, coming from his averages of 10.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.
He is the fourth-ever ROY from the Maroons program after Jacob Manlapaz (2001), Jean Lorenz Canillas (2019), and Daryl Valdeavilla (2022).
The Far Eastern University Baby Tamaraws were also awarded the third-place trophy.
