11 August 2018
By Niel Victor Masoy
Scoring and playmaking are usually the things that come to mind when talking about Robert Bolick’s skills.
Rebounding? Not really, until Friday, August 10 in the NCAA Season 94 Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Fioil Flying V Center in San Juan City.
The King Lion showed he can haul down boards too as he grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with his 20 points, 6 assists, and two steals to lead San Beda in an overtime 80-76 win over their archrivals Letran Knights.
When asked about his impressive rebounding output, Bolick said it was just him doing the ‘Scottie rebound’ thing.
“Nakita niyo naman mga ‘Scottie rebound’ ko diba?” Bolick rhetorically and lightheartedly asked reporters in a post-game interview.
“Bago kami nag-game nung Thursday, marami akong offensive rebounds eh. Sabi ko re-rebound nga ako. Sakto diba? Kung kaya ni Scottie, kaya ko rin!”
Bolick, of course, was obviously referring to the former NCAA MVP and newly crowned 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals MVP Scottie Thompson of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
Thompson impressed Filipino hoops fans with his nifty and tenacious rebounding in their finals series against the San Miguel Beermen, churning out an average of 7.7 boards per contest. He also put up 10.8 points and 5.2 assists for Ginebra.
Bolick explained his rebounding wasn’t for him to pad his numbers. His concerted effort to collect the boards was just his way of helping the Red Lions especially their main big man Donald Tankoua, instead.
“Tinutulungan ko nga yung team kasi nga yung Letran kasi eh wala silang import so gang rebounding talaga sila. Kapag tumitira kasi dinu-double nila parati si Donald sa boxout tapos si JV (Mocon) pumapasok,” he said.
“Siguro chance ko na rin, sa mga scouting reports kasi hindi ako rumi-rebound sa ibang games eh, trinay ko lang eh medyo maganda naman kaya tinuloy ko lang mga Scottie rebound,” he added while chuckling.
“Idol niya ‘yun,” San Beda head coach Boyet Fernandez interjected.
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