Ben Mbala had a long wait in residency limbo — three years to be exact. But given his performances on the court, it certainly seems that the Cameroonian big man is making up for lost time.
Mbala is currently topping four categories in the league: points (20.7/game), rebounding (16.3/game), blocks (2.1/game), and field goal percentage (62.7%). And with those numbers, the 22-year-old is leading the pack in the Most Valuable Race.
But Mbala is not thinking about the individual accolades, but rather about the goal of winning the championship.
“Individual success comes with team success. I don’t really think about it,” he said.
“I think about the team first and the rest will follow.”
Embracing the team concept is something instilled in them by first-year head coach Aldin Ayo. This has resulted in one of the most beautiful offensive schemes seen in the UAAP.
This was exhibited on the national stage after the De La Salle University’s dominant win against the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, Sunday evening. Mbala himself had three highlight dunks in the game.
His second dunk of the game, an alley-oop from Thomas Torres, was something they have been working on in practice according to him.
“We’ve been working for it with our fastbreak drills. We’ve done that more than a hundred times,” he said.
With all the dunks he has done this season, he said that he does not think about it and it just comes to him.
“It’s not like I go about the game and think about making dunks. I go there thinking I want to play defense. That’s the way we think in La Salle, with our mayhem.
“The first thing we think about is defense. Then when we get stops, we run. If you’re wide open, go for it. Coach is trusting us with our decision making so Tommy is running the floor so just do it,” he said.
“Like what we say to each other, if you see me, throw it in the air and I’ll take care of the rest,” he furthered.
And with the pace he is going, Mbala plans to be consistent to make up for lost time.
