NIC Cabanero and Adama Faye came up big individually even as University of Santo Tomas ended up in the bottom of the UAAP Season 85 men's basketball tournament elimination round.
Cabanero finished at the top of the scoring list with 17.62 points in 13 games played for the Tigers, who lost 13 consecutive games after starting the season with a win.
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La Salle's Schonny Winston, playing a total of 22 seconds in his last three games due to a calf injury, slid to second place with 14.9 points.
Jerom Lastimosa ended at third with 14.83 points for Adamson, which is set for a do-or-die fourth place playoff, with La Salle.
University of the Philippines forward Carl Tamayo, with 13.49 points, and University of the East banger Luis Villegas, with 13.14 points, round out the top five.
Completing the top 10 are Ateneo's Dave Ildefonso (12.07 points) and Ange Kouame (11.79), UE's Kyle Paranada (11.64), Far Eastern University's L-Jay Gonzales (11.46), and UST's Adama Faye (11.38).
UE rookie Gani Stevens posted the best field goal percentage, 61.22 percent of his shots, followed by Ateneo's Kai Ballungay (55.34%) and Kouame (55.08%), Adamson's Lenda Douanga (51.3%) and UP's Malick Diouf (50.94%).
UP's Terrence Fortea topped the three-point shooting with a 41.27 percent clip, edging Ballungay who hit 41.18. UP's Zavier Lucero is in third (36.96%), followed by UE's CJ Payawal (36.25%), and teammate Villegas (35.06%).
La Salle's Evan Nelle was 95.65 percent from the 15-foot line. Also among the best free throw shooters this season were Ateneo's BJ Andrade (92%) and Forthsky Padrigao (86.21%), UE's Villegas (85.37%), and UP's Gerry Abadiano (82.76%).
UST big man Faye topped the league in rebounds with 12.23 boards per contest, besting Kouame who had 11.43 rebounds and Diouf who grabbed 10.86 boards. La Salle's Michael Phillips with his 10.3 rebounds and Ateneo's Ildefonso with 8.29 boards complete the top five.
Kouame did grab the most offensive rebounds with 5.43 boards per game, way ahead of Adamson's Cedrick Manzano (3.64), La Salle's Phillips (3.6), Diouf and FEU's Patrick Tchuente (3.14).
Nelle had 5.91 assists, besting Padrigao's 5.5 dimes. UP's JD Cagulangan is at third with 4.75 assists, followed by FEU's Gonzales (4.31), and UE's Paranada (4.21).
La Salle teammate Mark Nonoy led the league in steals with 2.363 per game, while Padrigao had 2.357. behind them were La Salle's Winston (2.1), UE's Villegas (1.93), and La Salle's Phillips (1.9).
Kouame remained at the top of the blocks leaders with his 2.57 rejections per game, ahead of UST's Faye (2.15), La Salle's Phillips (1.6), UP's Diouf, and National University's Omar John (1.57).
Faye, though, committed the most turnovers with his 3.85 miscues in 13 games. Also among the most possessions lost were UP's Fortea (3.82), UST's Cabanero and NU's Kean Baclaan (3.54), and La Salle's Kevin Quiambao (3.08).
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