Heavy Bomber Paniamogan is NCAA player of the week

WITH no highly touted recruit to speak of during the off-season, Jose Rizal U coach Vergel Meneses knew improvement should come from within for his Bombers.

And no player has taken that to heart more than Philip Paniamogan, who has emerged as one of the deadliest shooters early into the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Armed with a much-improved shooting stroke and an extra vote of confidence from Meneses, the 6-foot Paniamogan quickly established himself as a primary offensive option for the Bombers, who scored back-to-back wins last week.

Paniamogan posted an average of 20 points per game, spiked by 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists, as the Bombers nipped College of St. Benilde (73-71) and Emilio Aguinaldo College (85-79) to climb to fourth spot with a 3-2 card.

“He’s a good shooter, but I would appreciate his play more with better effort on defense,” said Meneses, imposing high standards on his star guard, who was voted NCAA Press Corps Accel 3XVI Player of the Week.

In their win against the Blazers, Paniamogan did all the damage in the first half as he scored 17 points. He was at it again against the Generals, finishing with 23 points, including 15 in the second half.

The Cagayan de Oro native is the latest Bomber to emerge as an explosive scorer but feels he has a lot more to improve on.

“I can’t relax, I still have to improve especially on defense,” said Paniamogan.