Collegiate Press Corps Awards highlight best of 2018-19

Collegiate Player of the Year winner Thirdy Ravena with (from left to write) former UAAP-NCAA Press Corps officials Joey Villar of the Philippine Star, Jonas Terrado of the Manila Bulletin, and Cedelf Tupas of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Collegiate Press Corps president Reuben Terrado of SPIN.ph.

Heroes from the recently-concluded NCAA and UAAP seasons were honored in the 2019 Chooks-to-Go Collegiate Press Corps Awards presented by SportsVision, last Monday at Amelie Hotel Manila.

The preeminent student-athletes who showcased their talent and workmanship at the highest level of collegiate sports were gathered in the annual event held by the the Collegiate Press Corps, made up of print and online reporters covering the beat.

Ateneo de Manila University’s Thirdy Ravena was hailed as Basketball Player of the Year after leading the Blue Eagles to their second straight UAAP title.

"It's a great feeling to be recognized, especially for an award like this. Lahat ng mga pinaghirapan ko, finally nagpay-off,” said Ravena. "But in all honesty, I owe this all to my teammates. Of course, also the hardworking coaching staff of our team. We've come this far because of them."

Ravena joins the elite company of Mac Belo, Jeron Teng, Ben Mbala, Robert Bolick, and his own brother Kiefer as players who have received the coveted award.

"I also dedicate this award to my family, my friends, and those who have supported us in this journey. Honestly, I'm so surprised. I'm still in shock,” said the second-generation star.

The King Eagle was also named part of the All-Collegiate Team together with San Beda’s Robert Bolick, University of Perpetual Help System Dalta’s Prince Eze, and the University of the Philippines duo of Bright Akhuetie and Paul Desiderio.

It was also an historic night for volleyball as the sport's best individual performers were recognized for the very first time in the event supported by Amelie Hotel Manila, Rain or Shine, NorthPort, World Balance, Arellano University, AXA Team Eds, and NBL.

University of Santo Tomas’ Sisi Rondina and Arellano University’s Regine Arocha became the first recipients of the SportsVision Volleyball Player of the Year award.

Rondina capped off her stellar UAAP career by winning MVP in both beach and indoor volleyball in the same season, all while carrying the Golden Tigresses to their first Finals in eight years. Arocha, meanwhile, took the spotlight in the NCAA after helping the Lady Chiefs capture a three-peat while also winning the Finals MVP award.

The Award of Excellence was then handed out to the National University women's basketball team, as the Lady Bulldogs have run off eighty straight wins to claim five straight UAAP championships. UP's men's basketball team, meanwhile, earned a Special Citation for their inspiring Cinderella run to end their school’s 32-year Finals drought.

Coaches Boyet Fernandez of San Beda and Tab Baldwin of Ateneo were deemed top tacticians in the NCAA and UAAP, respectively, after leading their respective squads to championships.

Other awardees were Pivotal Players Angelo Kouame of Ateneo and Javee Mocon of San Beda as well as Impact Players CJ Perez of Lyceum and Sean Manganti of Adamson.

All-Collegiate five revealed

Your All-Collegiate Squad this school year

The All-Collegiate Team will be comprised from four schools this schoolyear, as the Collegiate Press Corps has decided to award the nod to the quintet of San Beda's Robert Bolick, Ateneo de Manila's Thirdy Ravena, University of Perpetual Help System Dalta's Prince Eze, and the University of the Philippines' Bright Akhuetie and Paul Desiderio.

Bolick capped off his collegiate career with averages of 16.8 points (on 49.1% shooting), 5.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists to lead San Beda to a 20-1 season in the 94th season of the NCAA. He also might have produced arguably the most impressive individual game this season with his fifty-point outburst against Arellano.

Ravena averaged 14.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 1.0 blocks to lead the Blue Eagles to the UAAP title in Season 81 with a 15-2 win-loss record. He took over in the Finals for the Blue Eagles to finish off UP en route to being named as the Finals MVP.

Eze carried the Altas to the postseason with averages of 17.9 points and 16.3 rebounds. His former teammate Akhuetie was named as the UAAP MVP with his 18.9 points, 14.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.1 steals for the Fighting Maroons, serving as the muscle to Desiderio's heart and leadership in their run to the Finals.

The Cebuano would finish with averages of 13.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals.

The five will join their fellow awardees National University women's basketball team (Award of Excellence), Angelo Kouame and Javee Mocon (Pivotal Player), Sean Manganti and CJ Perez (Impact Player), Boyet Fernandez and Tab Baldwin (Coach of the Year), and Sisi Rondina and Regine Arocha (Volleyball Players of the Year).

The 2019 Chooks-to-Go Collegiate Press Corps Awards presented by SportsVision will take place on May 27 at the Amelie Hotel Manila. It is also supported by Rain or Shine, Northport, World Balance, Arellano, and AXA Team EDS.

The ceremonies will be streamed LIVE on the Facebook pages of Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas and Tiebreaker Times.

Prince Eze named as the Player of the Week

The NCAA Press Corps did not need to deliberate long to determine this week's Chooks-to-Go Player of the Week.

Prince Eze made things easy for the media to name him for this week, after his buzzer-beating putback to clinch an 83-81 victory for the University of Perpetual Help System Dalta over a then-unbeaten Lyceum last Friday. He beat out his teammate Edgar Charcos, JP Calvo and Bong Quinto of Letran, Justin Gutang of CSB, and Robert Bolick of San Beda for the nod.

The Pirates came into their matchup toting a 30-game winning streak in the eliminations, but the Nigerian student-athlete pounded the paint with 25 points, 23 rebounds, and a couple of blocks to secure the victory for Perpetual, their seventh win this season and keeps them within .

Eze would exclaim heading into the press room, "I know it’s possible. I know it’s possible!"

Perpetual head coach Frankie Lim beamed, "Big game by Eze of course. He has MVP stats again." He adds, "They really delivered and sabi ko nga sa pre-game ko, ‘I want to see u guys on attack mode,’ And that’s what exactly happened."

Prince also shared this nugget to the media after the game, "I saw something in our last game, the defense we played, I saw a lot of things. We have a lot of rookies in our team so we just have to follow the coaches which tell us what to do. We just keep on fighting."

Prince Eze claims Player of the Week nod

With the University of Perpetual Help System Dalta down by as much as 21 points against San Sebastian College-Recoletos in their home gym, Prince Eze made sure their home fans will not go home disappointed.

The Nigerian student-athlete led the comeback charge in the second half, reducing the lead to single digits by the end of the third quarter, then got themselves the chance to snatch the victory in their final offensive possession.

After Arjan dela Cruz tied the game with his triple 3.3 seconds remaining, Frankie Lim used his final timeout to move the ball to halfcourt and diagram a play, which turned out to be AJ Coronel lobbing it for Eze to then tip in the game-winner with half a second remaining.

When asked about that sequence, Prince shares, "I don't want to lose whatever it takes... I know if I tap the ball, I'm still gonna catch it back. So I went inside." He adds, "I mean, a win is a win. And we have to live with that," as he finished with 22 points, eighteen rebounds, and six blocks.

Such an effort did not go unnoticed with the NCAA Press Corps, who rewarded his feat with the latest Chooks-to-Go Player of the Week nod, beating out CJ Perez, Robert Bolick, Bong Quinto, and Alvin Capobres for the honor.

Lim admitted after the game, "At halftime, I got mad actually... I told them, guys, it's not about the Xs and Os. It's about your desire to win."