MANILA, Philippines — University of the Philippines import Bright Akhuetie shone brightest among the individual performers in the first round of UAAP Season 81 men’s basketball tourney.
Akhuetie, a transferee from Perpetual Help in the NCAA, sparkled in his first seven games with the Maroons, assembling 77.000 statistical points built around averages of 15.7 points, 15.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.1 blocks to lead the race for the Most Valuable Player plum.
The Nigerian big man enjoys the edge against University of the East’s scoring machine Alvin Pasaol (71.5714 SPs), Ateneo’s Angelo Kouame (68.42666), La Salle’s vastly improved Justine Baltazar (64.5714) and fellow Fighting Maroon Juan Gomez de Liano (60.5714).
Occupying sixth to 10th spots were Adamson’s Jerrick Ahanmisi (57.7143), Santo Tomas’ rookie standout CJ Cansino (57.4266), AdU’s Papi Sarr (55.8571), DLSU’s Aljun Melecio (55.2857) and AdU’s Sean Manganti (54.000).
Prince Orizu was the highest-ranked from No. 1 Far Eastern at 11th overall with his 52.2686 tally.
Cansino paces National U’s ace freshman Dave Ildefonso (48.8571) in the battle for top rookie honors.