FEU’s Romeo virtual UAAP MVP

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U spitfire Terrence Romeo put a lock on the Most Valuable Player honors in the UAAP Season 76 men’s basketball tournament as he topped the statistical points (SPs) race, the league’s sole basis for the coveted plum.

Romeo amassed 75.2857 SPs after the two-round elims, building his numbers around solid averages of 22.2 points (league-best), 6.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists (second-best in the league) and 1.6 steal (league-best).

University of the East’s Charles Mammie, the UAAP’s top rebounder, actually finished second in SPs (75.0000) but was disqualified for the award as he was suspended twice during the season. 

Back-to-back MVP Bobby Ray Parks of top seed National U fell short of a personal “three-peat” as he finished with 73.8571 SPs spiked by norms of 18.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.1 steal and 1.1 block.

University of Santo Tomas’ Karim Abdul ranked fourth based on stats compiled by Smart Bro-sponsored Imperium with 70.9286 followed by UE’s Roi Sumang with 64.0000. Rounding out the Top 10 were NU’s Emmanuel Mbe (63.5714), La Salle’s Jason Perkins (58.5000) and Jeron Teng (58.2857), Ateneo’s Chris Newsome (55.7143), and La Salle’s Almond Vosotros (55.0714).

Romeo, who closed out the elims with a pair of 30-point performances, became only the third guard to win since the UAAP reintroduced the MVP award in 1989. He is in the company of teammate RR Garcia and current Tams assistant Johnny Abarrientos.

The 5-foot-10 gunner also achieved a rare feat of winning the MVP in both the men’s and juniors divisions. Romeo won the plum as a Baby Tam in 2009, the year he set a league record 83 points.