MANILA, Philippines - American behemoth Sudan Daniel came through with another triple-double effort to help preserve San Beda’s unblemished slate while nailing his second Accel/Fil-Oil NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week plum in Season 86 of the NCAA.
The 6-7 Daniel, who played high school ball at Compton Dominguez in California, bulldozed his way to 10 points, 10 rebounds and a league best 12 blocks to power the Lions to a 92-61 rout of the Perpetual Help Altas for their 11th win in a row.
The feat gave the 22-year-old Daniel the weekly honor backed by Terrilicious meat products and Gatorade and given by sportswriters from the country’s leading broadsheets and tabloids.
And San Beda coach Frankie Lim is nothing but impressed.
“He’s a lot better this year and he’s really working hard to be better,” said Lim.
It was actually Daniel’s second triple-double performance after coming up with 16 points, 10 boards and 10 blocks also at the expense of the Altas in the first round.
It was a superb individual feat that pushed Daniel closer to MVP race leader Calvin Abueva of San Sebastian although the former thinks helping his team win the championship comes first.
“My primary goal is to help the team win the championship again,” said the high-leaping Daniel, who was a rookie last year when his team was swept by San Sebastian in the finale.
“But I wouldn’t mind if I could lead my team to the championship and winning the MVP,” he added.
Daniel came out as the second best in the race for the coveted MVP plum with a total statistical average of 54.6 points – not far behind San Sebastian College’s Calvin Abueva (55.6 points).
Daniel, who is looking to become the second foreign player to win the MVP plum after his predecessor Nigerian Sam Ekwe, leads everyone in blocks (4), second in rebounds (11.6) plus a 10-point per game norm.