Adamson’s Bono, Ateneo’s Intal set pace in MVP race

The Most Valuable Player trophy in Season 69 could end up in the hands of either Ken Bono of Adamson or JC Intal of Ateneo de Manila. In the PLDT vibe-backed computations arrived at by the league’s official statisticians, Bono and Intal came out ahead of the pack with 74.17 and 73.17 MVP statistical points, respectively, after 12 elimination round games. The hefty, bull-strong Bono, on one hand, led the league in scoring and was second in rebounds with averages of 21.8 points and 11.1 boards to power the Falcons to their first semifinal stint since the Final Four format was introduced.

The long-limbed, high-leaping Intal, on the other hand, was more of a do-it-all player finishing third in points (17.9), tied for second with teammate Macky Escalona and State U’s Marvin Cruz in assists (4.8) and seventh in rebounds (7.4) and in steals (1.0). He is one of reasons the Eagles ended up with a league-best 10-2 (win-loss) slate in the preliminaries to clinch the top seeding in the semis and the twice-to-beat incentive that goes with it.

The two could end up facing each other in the Final Four. That is if Bono and the Falcons lose to the Santo Tomas Tigers in their playoff for the No. 3 seeding on Thursday at the Philsports Arena.

A dark horse MVP also looms in the horizon in UST’s Jervy Cruz, who was No.1 in rebounds (12.8), second in blocks (1.3) and sixth in points (16.3) to finish with 68.92 statistical points.

Cruz, who hails from Nueva Ecija, helped the Tigers seal a spot in the Final Four for the first time since making it four years back.

Another Cruz (not related) in Marvin of UP was at No. 4 with 62.00 points while Ateneo’s Doug Kramer zoomed up at No. 5 with 60.17 points.

Rounding up the top 10 were Far Eastern U’s Jeff Chan (58.50), University of the East’s Bon Bon Custodio (57.83), National U’s Edwin Asoro (57.17), FEU’s Jonas Villanueva (56.60) and UE’s Mark Borboran (56.25).

The race for the Rookie of the Year plum is equally interesting with four likely contenders in UP’s Migs de Asis, Woody Co and Martin Reyes and Ateneo’s Eric Salamat emerging.

De Asis, a member of the 2005 UAAP juniors champion La Salle-Zobel team, leads the four with 33.92 points, barely ahead of Co, a standout from Xavier School, with 32.42.

Reyes, De Asis’ Zobel teammate, was No. 3 with 28.55 while Salamat, a finals MVP last season when San Sebastian won the NCAA juniors crown, followed suit with 27.36. — Joey Villar