UST ace Ababou outguns ‘em all

Santo Tomas' team skipper Dylan Ababou emerged as the most prolific scorer in the first round of the 72nd UAAP men's basketball tournament. The 23-year-old Ababou averaged a league-leading 19.6 points per game in the Tigers’ seven matches, a performance highlighted by a 30-point explosion, to lead all scorers this season. The behavioral science student had a 45.7 percent marksmanship in the two-point area, making 43 of his 94 attempts, and a 33.3 percent accuracy from the three-point area, making nine of his 27 tries down town. Behind the free throw line, Ababou scored 24 times in 40 attempts.

Ababou's teammate and fellow veteran campaigner Khasim Mirza ranked second with an average of 17 points. Mirza scored 35 times in 68 attempts from the 2-point area for a 51.5 percent clip while scoring eight times in 33 tries from beyond the arc for a modest 24.2 percent. He had a 64.1 percent success at the charity line, sinking 25 of his 39 tries. At third and fourth among the league's leading scorers were Narciso Llagas of University of the East and Rabeh Al-Hussaini of defending champion Ateneo de Manila University, who posted identical 14.9 averages. Rounding up the top 10 were rookie Jeric Teng of UST (13.4); Melvin Baloran of National U (13.4); Woodey Co of University of the Philippines (13.3); Paul Lee of University of the East (13.1); Andy Barroca of Far Eastern U (12.9); and Erik Salamat of Ateneo (11.7). Single-game best Ababou also held the distinction of posting the biggest single-game point production so far when he scored 30 points in the Tigers’ 104-89 win over NU last July 16. Adamson’s Jan Colina, meanwhile, registered the season's most rebounds in a game when he collared 16 boards in the Falcons’ loss to UST last July 11. Lester Alvarez of Adamson, Paul Lee of UE and Jeric Fortuna of UST all posted a league-best eight assists in a single game while Fotruna and Barroca tied for the most steals in a game with five. Jewel Ponferrada of NU had the most blocks in a single game with his six swats while Alvin Padilla of UP set at 10 the most number of turnovers in a single game. - GMANews.TV