TAB Baldwin knew from the very beginning that he had a gem in Chris Koon.
That's why the solid showing that the Fil-Am winger had in Ateneo's 78-47 victory over Adamson on Thursday did not surprise the mentor one bit.
"Chris played well today and he did things that we really liked about Chris when we saw him for the very first time back when he was in high school, a young fellow," he said after Koon fired two treys to end up with nine points, five rebounds, and two assists in easily his best game to date in a Blue Eagles jersey.
Koon was a plus-minus giant in this triumph over the Soaring Falcons being a whopping plus-34 in his 17 minutes on the floor.
To Baldwin, the traditional statistics might not do justice to the 20-year-old Koon's contributions to the team, saying his performance is emblematic of the versatility that he provides for the Katipunan side.
Baldwin swoons over Koon
"Chris can do a lot of things. He can shoot the ball, he can rebound the ball, he can defend, he handles the ball well for a bigger player. He really is a guard in a 6-5 body and because of that, in the leagues here with his ability to play around the basket and attack the rim as well, he's very, very versatile player and we got a lot of that out of him today, which obviously meant a good game for him and a lot of productivity while he was on the court," said the mentor.
The good news for Ateneo? Koon is in Ateneo for the long haul with four more playing seasons under his belt.
And he himself knows that this can only help him improve as he learns more of he intricacies of Baldwin's system.
After close to two years with the Blue Eagles, it's safe to say he's settling real well with the squad.
"I've been here for almost two years now but we just started in January as a group. I've been able to get a lot better with coach Tab's system and being around these guys helped me a lot when it comes to just the style of play and how different it is," he said.
"For each game, we're just improving as a team and I can see that. I'm hoping, like coach said, that we take everything with a grain of salt. Next game's up, that's the most important thing to us."
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