The top scorer and MVP of the first round. Nicolás García Karpenko crowned an impeccable first round in the 2023/24 Men’s Cadet Provincial Championship, Andalusian Club Championship Phase, Single Group, as the best valued player in the competition and leader in scoring, rebounds and stolen balls.
Karpenko has sealed a perfect first half in the Andalusian Championship Phase of Men’s Cadet Clubs, where the best basketball players born in 2008 and those who, being foreigners, play in the province of Malaga participate. And he adds one more achievement to his endless list of basketball feats by being first in the competition in rating and scoring after eight games played in nine days played and leading the majority of the rankings.
Halfway through the championship, Karpenko is extending his excellent streak of invincibility, appearing at the top of the table since the competition began. The Marbella player averages 21 points, 13 rebounds, 7 stolen balls, 2 assists and 7 personal fouls received, with a success rate of 68% in free throws (48/71).
First round results: 8 games in 9 weeks
For statistics followers, these are enormous figures. However, all the hard work contributed by Karpenko has not led his team to lead the halfway point of the regular competition, occupying the penultimate place in the standings in the first round. Despite this, Karpenko has sealed the first round by being crowned the first highest-rated player. His 123 rating points give him the title of MVP of the first round of the competition: 18 points more rating than the second place, both are the only two players who exceed a hundred, according to data published by the Andalusian Basketball Federation in the “Afición FAB” application that keeps the statistics of the championship. However, the true rating achieved by Karpenko is much higher than that published by FAB, because the application only takes into account in this competition the points scored and the personal fouls committed by each player. In any case, this circumstance affects everyone equally and Karpenko is the player who was the game MVP the most times: in 5 of the 8 games he has played. The one who was the team MVP the most times: in 6 of the 8 games played. And the one who achieved the most double-doubles and triple-doubles in the eight games played so far: 7 double-doubles and 2 triple-doubles.
Best rated player in the first round
The versatile player from the IGGA-sponsored team is the most decisive player in the championship. Karpenko is not only one of the names of the best attack in the competition because he leads the scoring statistics with an average of 21 points per game and 168 points scored in the first round, 33 points more than the second placed team. Also, he is the first of seven to exceed one hundred points scored, the most productive player for a team after adding 34.5% of the points obtained by his team (168/487) – 10% more than the second classified -, and the only one who has an average score per game above twenty points. In fact, it is a stratospheric average if we compare it with the rest of the players in the competition: the second and third in the classification have an average of 16.7 and 16.5 points per game, the fourth at 15.4 points per match, and only fifteen of the 129 players who played in the first round of the maximum competition surpass or equal the average of 10 points scored per game. In fact, the three highest scorers in the first round of the competition played with the Malaga National Team in November of this year and won the Andalusian Provincial Selections Championship #A8CM2023.
The player who has received more fouls
Furthermore, Karpenko is the first player with the most success from the middle distance: he scored 54 2-point shots, five more than the second-placed player. The first to take the most free throws: 71, fourteen more than the second placed player. The first to score the most free throws: 48, fourteen more than the second placed player. And the first to receive fouls from rivals: 57 fouls received for only 18 personal fouls committed.
Leader in rebounds and stolen balls
Another statistical section in which Karpenko has stood out in this first round has been rebounds. There are 13 rebounds that the young CBSP promise captures on average per game, with him being the top rebounder in the competition with 99 rebounds: 43 on offense and 56 on defense.
And, precisely, defending, Karpenko is also one of the most impressive players, crowned number one in stolen balls: 54 in the first round of the competition, with an average of 7 stolen balls per game.
Photographs of Nicolás García Karpenko during the first round of the competition. – Photographer José Luis.
CBSP Cadet star continues to defy statistics
It is not a prize for a single game but for half of the championship where the best play. Although the level of the participants is very high, Nicolás García Karpenko has proven to be the fittest player in the men’s cadet competition in the first phase of the domestic tournament of the 2023/24 season.
Statistics. – Andalusian Basketball Federation.
IGGA is a company committed to sports and official sponsor of Club Baloncesto San Pedro.
