WHILE they do not tell the whole story, statistics generally don’t lie. Only human errors do.
Hereunder are the current season averages of prominent players suiting up in the 2014 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) basketball competitions.
The computations I have made were derived from game statistics generously provided by my good pal Pong Ducanes of Imperium Technology Inc.
Here are the tournament leaders in the three major departments – points, rebounds and assists (stats excluding last night’s games):
SCORING – (1) Kiefer Ravena, Ateneo (4g, 83p, 20.8 ppg), (2) Chris Tolomia, FEU (3, 55, 18.3), (3) Mark Belo, FEU (3, 51, 17.0), (4) Arvin Tolentino, Ateneo (4, 63, 15.8), (5) Jeron Teng, DLSU (4, 56, 14.0), (6) Almond Vosotros, DLSU (4, 55, 13.8), (7) Kyles Lao, UP (4, 52, 13.0), (8) Jason Perkins, DLSU (4, 52, 13.0), (9) Jeth Rosario, NU (4, 52, 13.0), (10) Roi Sumang, UE (3, 38, 12.7), (11) Angelo Alolino, NU (4, 48, 12.0), (12) Karim Abdul, UST (3, 35, 11.7), (13) Jansen Rios, Adamson (3, 34, 11.3), (14) Dave Moralde, UP (4, 45, 11.3), (15) Alfred Aroga, NU (4, 45, 11.3), (16) Kevin Ferrer, UST (3, 33, 11.0), (17) Chris Newsome, Ateneo (4, 43, 10.8), (18) Rey Gallarza, UP (4, 43, 10.8), (19) Celedonio Trollano, Adamson (2, 21, 10.5) and (20) Von Pessumal, Ateneo (4, 41, 10.3).
REBOUNDING – (1) Glenn Khobuntin, NU (4g, 39r, 9.8 rpg), (2) Moustapha Arafat, UE (3, 27, 9.0), (3) Jason Perkins, DLSU (4, 35, 8.8), (4) Alfred Aroga, NU (4, 35, 8.8), (5) Jansen Rios, Adamson (3, 26, 8.7), (6) Karim Abdul, UST (3, 26, 8.7), (7) Chris Newsome, Ateneo (4, 33, 8.3), (8) Celedonio Trollano, Adamson (2, 16, 8.0), (9) Jeth Rosario, NU (4, 31, 7.8) and (10) Norbert Torres, DLSU (4, 30, 7.5).
ASSISTS – (1) Roi Sumang, UE (3g, 17a, 5.7 apg), (2) Nico Elorde, Ateneo (4, 18, 4.5), (3) Kiefer Ravena, Ateneo (4, 16, 4.0) and (4) Jeron Teng, DLSU (4, 15, 3.8).
Khobuntin raced to the top of the rebounding charts with 16 boards in National University’s 64-60 victory over erstwhile unblemished Ateneo de Manila University last July 26.
His total surpassed University of the East rookie Moustapha Arafat’s 15-rebound effort in just 12:17 minutes of action in the host Red Warriors’ Season 77-opening 87-59 slaughter of the University of the Philippines.
Ravena heads four players who have scored in double digits in all of their assignments so far. The 6-foot King Blue Eagle tallied 22, 29, 19 and 13 markers for a league-leading 20.8 clip.
Ravena’s teammate, former San Beda Red Cubs star Arvin Tolentino, joins him with scores of 12, 14, 20 and 17 and the prime Rookie of the Year candidate paces all freshmen at 15.8 ppg, fourth-best in the tournament.
Other members of this twin-figure list are Mark Belo (20-19-12) and Chris Tolomia (23-14-18) of far Eastern University.
Elorde dished out a tournament-high eight assists in Ateneo’s 97-86 thrashing of defending UAAP titlist La Salle.
Sumang has metamorphosed into an excellent floor general under UE rookie mentor Derrick Pumaren without sacrificing his offensive wizardry, making passes of six, six and five in three appearances for a league-leading 5.7 average.