PAGADIAN, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR — Edrian Lao of BYB Kapatagan was hailed as the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Challenge Conference MVP, Wednesday.
Lao led the Buffalos to a 7-5 finish after the preliminaries for third place before ransacking Basilan BRT and Pagadian in the playoffs en route to a Finals ticket.
“Hindi ko inexpect itong award na ito. Sobrang thankful ako!” said the newly-minted MVP from Tomas Oppus, Southern Leyte.
The 6-foot-4 power forward averaged a near double-double in the regular season with 9.6 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.6 blocks.
Joining Lao in the Mythical Five were teammate Jonel Bonganciso, MVP runner-up Shaq Imperial of Zamboanga Sibugay, Judel Fuentes of Pagadian, and Joel Lee Yu of Globalport-MisOr.
Bonganciso was also a force down low, getting 9.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists.
Imperial was the Anak Mindanao Warriors rock en route to the Finals with numbers of 11.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.9 steals.
Fuentes gained 13.0 points 3.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.2 steals while leading the Explorers to the second seed before falling to Kapatagan in the semifinals.
Lee Yu led the Valientes to a league-leading 8-4 standing to earn an outright semis berth but got knocked out by Zamboanga Sibugay. He collected 13.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists.
Hailing from Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental, Nicole Ubalde grabbed the Best Homegrown Player plum after getting a modest 4.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.1 steals for the top seed Valientes.
Vis Valencia, the only head coach who returned from the inaugural season, was awarded as the Best Coach for steering MisOr to the top at the end of the preliminaries.
