A 19-year-old rookie from Nigeria is using his brute force to disrupt the balance of power, helping University of Santo Tomas (UST) steal the thunder from fancied squads in Season 88 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.

Collins Akowe has been wreaking havoc as he powered the Growling Tigers to a pair of important victories that would definitely have a massive impact on the race to the title of this prestigious collegiate league.

Against De La Salle University — the gold standard in college basketball — Akowe put on a show, dropping 20 points and 19 rebounds to power the Growling Tigers to a 93-84 victory.

The victory was so big that it happened to be the Tigers’ first over the Green Archers since 11 October 2015. It also gave them a temporary share of the lead with a 2-0 win-loss mark, something that they haven’t tasted since Season 82 in 2019.

But more than that, it created a mental note that these Tigers had effectively shifted the league’s balance of power to their favor with the muscular, 6-foot-10 Akowe threatening to drop a rare 20-20 performance every time he steps on the court.

“It was kind of a slow start for me,” said Akowe, admitting that La Salle defenders like Mike Phillips, Mason Amos, Luis Pablo, Bright Nwanko and Lebron Jhames Daep made it tough for him to operate in the first half. Fortunately, he gained his rhythm in the third and fourth periods, where he dropped 12 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Tigers to the dramatic victory.

“That was what I was getting about most times in the first half, to see the kind of defense they were giving me, and I just had to adjust coming into the second half.”

Akowe admitted that he was nursing a fever on the eve of this big match.

“Diego (my friend) said, even MJ (Jordan) had a flu game, so no excuses,” he added. 

“I was like, ‘okay, no problem, man.’ I’m just gonna do what I need to do. And basically, I need to turn up in the second half, which I did.” 

It wasn’t the first time for Akowe to torch a heavyweight.

Prior to facing La Salle, Akowe flexed his muscles, firing 29 points and 17 rebounds to power UST to a dominant 87-67 win over reigning champion University of the Philippines (UP).

With back-to-back victories crafted in impressive fashions, league observers believe that Akowe is a walking cheat code as it appears that nobody can stop him — not even the league’s most dynamic defender in Phillips or any foreign student-athlete from seven other teams. 

Akowe’s mettle will again be tested when he goes up against his former team, National University, which features 6-foot-10 Senegalese Omar John, on Wednesday. Then, on 11 October, he will battle one of the league’s hottest rookies in Filipino-American Kymani Ladi and Ateneo de Manila University, where they will be gauged if they really have what it takes to win the crown.

But veteran Nic Cabañero doesn’t want to think about winning the title yet.