AFTER 11 years, a Tiger is once again king of the UAAP basketball hill.
Following a remarkable year in which he imposed total domination in the shaded lane offensively and defensively, UST stalwart Jervy Cruz was named Most Valuable Player of Season 70 last October 7 at the Araneta Coliseum.
The last Tiger to win the MVP trophy was Christopher Cantonjos of the fabled “four-peat” UST team, who led the black-gold-and-white to a 57-54 victory against La Salle in what became the last of four straight titles in 1996.
Cruz was also named PS Bank “Maasahan Player of the Year” and a member of the Mythical Five.
The MVP plum, however, was bittersweet for the 21-year-old Nueva Ecija native following the Tigers’ premature exit in the step-ladder semifinal series of the tournament.
“I am very happy that I was named the MVP,” Cruz told the Varsitarian. “Unfortunately, we were not able to bring another title to UST.”
Cruz garnered a whopping 75.86 statistical points, 12 notches more than second placer Patrick Cabahug of Adamson.
Cruz won the diadem with 50 percent of his score based on his statistical points in the entire regular season. Media and player votes comprised the other half of the criteria.
The 6-foot-4 slotman averaged 16.7 points per game on top of a league-best 15.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks an outing, an improvement from his Season 69 averages in scoring (16.2 points per game), rebounds (12.8) and blocks (1.2).
He also holds the single game record for most rebounds (23) and most blocks (seven) registered this season.
His emphatic double-double production and court savvy contributed to the Tigers’ 9-6 win-loss slate in the double round robin eliminations.
Cruz was recently picked second overall in the Philippine Basketball League rookie draft by the Lina Group of Companies, which will banner the Welbest franchise.
He is set to don the national colors in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in December.
Meanwhile, UST point guard Japs Cuan bagged the Best in Assists award after averaging 4.8 assists per game.
In the distaff side, Tigress Marichu Bacaro was named to the women’s mythical team after chalking up season averages of 17 points and 7.9 rebounds an outing.
