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After being bogged down with a nervous system issue, La Salle superstar Kevin Quiambao bounces back as only an MVP like him can, dismantling UST with a new career-high 29 points
MANILA, Philippines – The La Salle Green Archers have been the epitome of excellence and consistency, as expected, in the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament, so much so that even an MVP-level player can have a bad stretch and almost go unnoticed.
That was exactly the case in the defending champions’ revenge win against the UE Red Warriors last Saturday, October 12, when Kevin Quiambao cobbled together a meager 10-point line after going scoreless the entire first half.
After the game, the 22-year-old superstar revealed he fought through a nervous system issue, and pleaded people to take care of their physical and mental health.
Less than a week later, Quiambao bounced-back as only he can, exploding for a new career-high 29 points kickstarted by an otherworldly 13-point pileup in La Salle’s 14-0 start over UST.
Although the Growling Tigers managed to rise from that opening burial to force overtime, the Green Archers still prevailed in the end, riding an 11-1 start to eventually take a 94-87 win, and no player was happier about the result than the MVP himself.
“We just take a next man up approach in our team. We all have a role to play, and coming from my bad game against UE, I just put in the work again,” Quiambao said in Filipino. “I just worked to get healthy. I got my nervous system back to its usual groove.”
“We just work every day on what we can work on in our team, but we just lean on the next man up always. Whoever steps up, that’s who we give focus on.”
Mike Phillips, who carried La Salle against UE with a 27-point, 17-board eruption, easily slotted back to his original spot as a second option, churning out a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double in just 25 minutes of action.
“KQ will win games and lose games for us, as simple as that,” said La Salle head coach Topex Robinson. “You give him the freedom, he’s way better than you as a coach, so why do you have to battle it out with him? As long as he knows that he has to get everybody involved.”
“It’s part of it, the responsibility. What I like about KQ is, he always accepts it and always has a growth mindset approaching those kinds of things and always asks us, what do I still need to improve on? Which is really nice.”
Held back by distractions — both good, like fatherhood, and bad, like health issues — Quiambao is somehow still the clear frontrunner for back-to-back MVP awards, a fact that the fourth-year forward is understandably the least bit interested in.
It’s abundantly clear now that nothing can truly stop Quiambao from achieving his dream of another championship before he reconsiders trekking that golden career path outside the UAAP.
“We just have to keep following our system and not divert from it, because we have tendencies to go solo when our opponents go on runs,” he continued.
“I just told the team — we veterans just told them — to keep fighting, value each possession, and always follow what’s told of us.” – Rappler.com
