MANILA, Philippines - After leading Far Eastern University to the top position at the end of the eliminations, the Tamaraws’ ace guard RR Garcia is the hands-down pick to romp off with the UAAP Season 73 Most Valuable Player plum while teammate Terrence Romeo will net Rookie of the Year honors.
Statistically, Garcia, the league’s No. 1 gunner, barely edged National University’s Cameroonian slotman Emmanuel Mbe, the UAAP’s rebounding king, for the most coveted individual honor.
The prized recruit from Zamboanga City piled up 59.2 statistical points (SPs) against Mbe’s 59.0, based on the stats of the elims released by Imperium Technology and Smart Bro.
“He deserved to be MVP,” FEU coach Glen Capacio said of his ward who logged averages of 16.8 points (a league-best), 3.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1 steal. “He has saved us many times over in our 14 games in the eliminations.”
His MVP bid under threat from Mbe even until the final day of the elims, Garcia bucked foul trouble to deliver eight points, including a crucial triple that helped FEU beat Ateneo for top seeding in the Final Four, 74-72. He added four assists and two steals to earn enough stats and bonus points to seal the win.
Joining Garcia and Mbe, the only player with a double-double norm of 13.4 markers and 11.7 boards, in the Mythical 5 are FEU’s Aldrech Ramos (58.7 SPs), and University of the East’s Paul Lee (57.7 SPs) and Ken Acibar (57.64 SPs).
Romeo, who pulled off a 15-point, 10-rebound performance when FEU posted win No. 12 against Ateneo, ran away with the top ROY honors over Ateneo’s Arthur dela Cruz and La Salle’s Luigi Dela Paz.
The FEU duo’s feat sustained the latest trend in the UAAP in which MVP and ROY winners come from the same team.
Last year, UST did it with MVP Dylan Ababou and ROY Jeric Teng and the season before that, it was Ateneo’s MVP Rabeh Al-Hussaini and ROY Ryan Buenafe.
The top performers will be honored on Sept. 25 before Game 1 of the finals.