Abueva unleashes old ‘beast’

MANILA, Philippines — Calvin Abueva unleashed his “beast mode”  with new franchise Titan Ultra and emerged one of the leading performers of the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup eliminations, joining the likes of June Mar Fajardo, Justin Arana and Justine Baltazar.

Abueva, 37, led the scoring parade with 23.6 points spiked by a single-game high of 41 markers. “The Beast” also hauled down an average of 11.9 rebounds – third best in the tournament – as he put himself in the company of only three other players, all centers, in registering twin-digit scoring and rebounding.

On top of this, Abueva ranked fifth in both steals (1.8) and blocks (1.2) and 15th in assists (3.6). But he also committed the most turnovers with 3.9 per match.

San Miguel Beer titan Fajardo lorded it  underneath the boards, logging 14.64 rebounds per outing, to complement his 16.64-point production.

Converge’s “Jus-twin Tower” Arana (16.5 markers and 10.1 boards) and Baltazar (14.73 points and 13.83 rebounds) made up the other members of the double-double club.

NLEX’ Robert Bolick showed the way in assists with 8.57 per outing while Blackwater’s RK Ilagan was tops in steals with 2.5 and Magnolia’s Zav Lucero was No. 1 in blocks with 2.18.

Also sparkling in points-production were Blackwater’s RK Ilagan (22), Titan’s Joshua Munzon (21.64), Converge’s rookie sensation Juan Gomez de Liaño (19.36) Blackwater’s Sedrick Barefield (19.2), Meralco sophomore CJ Cansino (19.1), SMB’s CJay Perez (19.09), Phoenix’ Jason Perkins (19.3), and TNT’s Calvin Oftana (16.9).

Meanwhile, Meralco’s Brandon Bates (9.91),Lucero (9.81) and Yukien Andrada (9.0), Meralco’s Cliff Hodge (8.55), NLEX’ JB Bahio (7.83), Rain or Shine’s Caelan Tiongson (7.83) and Gomez de Liaño (7.64) rounded out the premier rebounders.

De Liaño took the position behind Bolick as the second-best assists-issuer with 7.64, followed by Titan’s Fran Yu (6.18), Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson (6.09), Terrafirma’s Mark Nonoy (5.57), Fajardo (5.0), Munzon (4.91) Phoenix’s Evan Nelle (4.73), Magnolia’s Mark Barroca (4.55) and Phoenix’ Tyler Tio (4.27).

After Ilagan, Perez was the No. 2 in steals with 2.0 followed by Blackwater’s Dalph Panopio (1.89), Munzon (1.82), Abueva (1.8), Terrafirma’s Paolo Hernandez (1.64) and Nonoy (1.57), Converge’s Alec Stockton (1.55), Titan’s Aris Dionisio (1.5) and Terrafirma’s Brent Paraiso (1.45).

Finishing behind Lucero, the Season 49 PBA Press Corps Defensive Player of the Year, in swatting shots were Bates (1.55), TNT’s Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser (1.5), Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar (1.27), Abueva (1,2), Fajardo (1.18), Dionisio (1.17), Blackwater’s Clifford Hopia (1.11), Meralco’s Raymond Almazan (1.09) and TNT’s Poy Erram (1.0).