Daquioag, Dela Cruz, Del Rosario receive nods

A couple of graduating players and a legendary coach will be cited by UAAP-NCAA Press Corps at the Collegiate Basketball Awards tonight.

Art dela Cruz of San Beda and Eduardo Daquioag of the University of Santo Tomas will be receiving the Impact Player award, as they became two of the best players in the collegiate scene this past season, helping their respective schools to runners-up finishes.

Daquioag showed marked improvement in his final season for the Growling Tigers, as head coach Bong dela Cruz unleashed his scoring prowess on opposing teams, averaging 16.4 points.

Dela Cruz led the Red Lions in scoring, rebounding, and assists, averaging 19.72 points, 11.39 rebounds, and 6.22 assists.

The sports scribes are also honoring Aric del Rosario with the Lifetime Achievment Award, the second person to be bestown this nod, following Ato Badolato. Del Rosario is being cited for his contributions as coach of both UST in the UAAP and Perpetual in the NCAA.

Also being feted with special citations in the event are Jiovani Jalalon of Arellano (ACCEL Court General) and Jeron Teng of La Salle (Gatorade Energy Player)

Supporting the College Basketball Awards are SMART Sports, ACCEL Quantum-3XVI, Gatorade, the University of the Philippines, Mapua Institute of Technology, San Miguel Corporation, and the Philippine Sports Commission.

Ed Daquioag named as first UAAP Season 78 Press Corps Player of the Week

For UST's Ed Daquioag, his acceptance of a new and more offensive-oriented role has yielded immediate benefits. One of which is to be the first winner of the ACCEL Quantum/3XVI-UAAP Press Corps Player of the Week.

Daquioag beat out teammate Kevin Ferrer, Mike Tolomia and Mac Belo of FEU, as well as Paul Desiderio and Jett Manuel of UP for the nod, which is given out weekly by the sports (print and online) media.

The 6-foot guard has been a major factor in all of the Growling Tigers' three wins in this early stages of the UAAP's 78th season, giving the Espana-based side its best start this century.

On opening day, he torched the Adamson Soaring Falcons with a career-high 28 points. He then followed it up with 18 against last season's losing finalists Far Eastern University on Wednesday. And then on Sunday, with the attention of the nation on the so-called "Separation of Church and State" game against then-fellow undefeated University of the Philippines, he poured in 27 points against the Fighting Maroons.

The 24-year old native of Dingras, Ilocos Norte explained his new role to the media, noting that "... we need to have some scorers, so I grabbed the opportunity given to me by Coach (Bong dela Cruz)." He also acknowledged that he is still adjusting to having this kind of responsibility. In fact, he did not participate in the last PBA D-League conference (he previously had been playing with Breadstory) to focus on the team during the UAAP offseason.

For dela Cruz, the second-year head coach was impressed with Ed's performance, saying that his "confidence is very high and he's enjoying the game." He added that with Ed and Kevin serving as the team's leaders, they should "lead by example."

That mantra of "leadership by example" is best illustrated by his fourth quarter performances:

Against Adamson: 9 minutes 12 points (6/10 FG) 1 rebound 1 steal
Against FEU: 10 minutes 12 points (6/9 FG) 4 rebounds 1 steal
Against UP: 9.67 mins 17 pts (5/7 FG 1/1 3pt 6/8 FT) 2 rebounds 1 assist