Mapua University is among the NCAA Season 99 men’s basketball tournament league leaders midway through the first round.

In five games so far, the Cardinals had bested San Sebastian College-Recoletos, San Beda University, College of Saint Benilde, and Emilio Aguinaldo College, while only falling short against Jose Rizal University.

And in their back-to-back wins last week over the Blazers and the Generals, one man’s heroics served as keys to the Intramuros-based squad’s rise to the top of the standings, and it was no less than Mapua’s homegrown forward—Paolo Hernandez. 

Hernandez’s stellar play earned him the season’s second Collegiate Press Corps NCAA Player of the Week honors for the period Oct. 3 to 9, following suit to Shawn Umali of Lyceum of the Philippines university. 

He topped teammate Clint Escamis, Lyceum’s Mclaude Guadana and John Barba, JRU’s Agem Miranda for the weekly award presented by San Miguel Corporation and backed by minor sponsors Discovery Suites and Jockey.

The 6-foot-3 wingman, who delivered 16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists over those two victories, hit the game-winning jumpers in the payoff periods of both games to allow Mapua to forge a two-way tie at the second spot with the Heavy Bombers at 4-1. 

Down by one against Benilde last October 4, Hernandez hit the dagger jumper with 22 seconds remaining in the match before sealing the victory with three conversions from the charity stripe.

He mirrored this on Sunday when he hit a step-back midrange jumper to break a 69-all deadlock against EAC while also making a crucial deflection on the defensive end en route to the win.

Despite these, Hernandez deflected all the credit and said that these were all a result of the team’s efforts and hard work.

“We just stayed composed lang, and nagtiwala kami sa mga coaches, sa mga teammates. May tiwala kami sa isa’t isa,” he said.

“Yung shots ko na ‘yun, dahil ‘yun sa teammates ko. Sa assist ni Clint, sa box out ng mga big man, especially Jopet Soriano. Lahat ‘yon, yung shots na ‘yon, kami yung tumira no’n.”

Still, Cardinals head coach Randy Alcantara gave Hernandez his flowers, saying that his ever-reliable forward deserves all of these, especially with the on-court smarts that Hernandez possesses. 

“Kaya siya yung pinuntahan ko kasi tiwala ako sa kanya eh. Alam ko, may desisyon siyang maganda nung huli. Pwede niyang itira, pwede niyang ipasa,” the long-time Mapua mentor said. 

“Maraming salamat sa Panginoon na nabigay kay Paolo yung time na ‘yun at hindi siya nag-miss.”