By NIKOLE JAVIER
Reigning Most Valuable Player Ange Kouame of Ateneo paced the league in rebounds and blocks while Schonny Winston of De La Salle led all scorers after the first round of the UAAP Season 85 men’s basketball tournament.
Kouame, who nursed injuries during the offseason, is still proving to be lethal for Ateneo’s defense, averaging 11.43 rebounds and 2.57 blocks per game, which helped give his team a 5-2 record in the standings heading into the next round.
The Blue Eagles capped the tournament's first round with a 91-76 victory over the University of the East Red Warriors last Oct. 23 and improved to the second spot after National University Bulldogs’ 47-44 defeat against Far Eastern University Tamaraws.
Schonny Winston, on the other hand, kept the Green Archers within a fighting distance for a playoff spot with a 3-4 win-loss card, averaging 21.29 points and 3.0 blocks per contest while his teammate Evan Nelle amassed to 7.8 assists per match in seven games.
La Salle, however, dropped its back-to-back games against NU, 80-76, last Oct. 19 and couldn’t close out the first round with a win after falling to Adamson in overtime, 86-84, last Oct. 22.
JD Cagulangan, who only played once in the first round for University of the Philippines against its championship rival last season Ateneo, has managed to put himself alongside the league leaders with 4.0 steals.
The Fighting Maroons have now secured the front row with a 6-1 record after completing a lopsided 76-51 victory against University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers last Oct. 22.
Meanwhile, Nic Cabanero of UST, who tallied his career-high game of 33 points in the first tipoff of the season against Adamson last Oct. 1, placed second in the scoring ladder with an average of 17.71 followed by Adamson’s Jerom Lastimosa (16.71), UP’s Carl Tamayo (14.86) and Ateneo’s Dave Ildefonso sharing the fifth spot with UE’s Kyle Paranada (14.29) all after seven games.
The league will return on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Smart Araneta Coliseum.