Matthew "Chew" Daves will skip his final year of eligibility with Ateneo to turn pro.
The 24-year-old Filipino-Canadian big man has told the school that he plans on turning pro after graduating this June, the school said in a statement.
"We at Ateneo support our athlete's decision if they want to turn professional. More than winning a championship, our program's main goal is to turn student-athletes into professionals," said Blue Eagles team manager Christopher "Epok" Quimpo.
Daves joins Dave Ildefonso, Angelo Kouame, BJ Andrade, and Jacob Lao as Blue Eagles who ended their collegiate careers after the title-winning UAAP Season 85 campaign.
Daves, who stands 6-foot-5, committed to Ateneo back in 2018 after graduating from Central Tech in Toronto. He was part of the Ateneo team that won gold in Seasons 81, 82, and 85.
In his senior year, Daves averaged 1.93 points and 1.13 rebounds in eight minutes of play, but it was in the finals against the UP Maroons when he made his mark.
In Game Two, he put up six points in 15 solid minutes of action and tallied four points and two rebounds while going a plus-17 in the 13 minutes he was on the floor in the title-clinching win.
Daves later posted this on his Twitter page:
"To the Ateneo community, I just want to say thank you for accepting and supporting me these last four years," said Daves, who has already obtained a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.
"Ateneo is my home and I will never forget the memories we all made together."
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This story originally appeared on SPIN.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Candymag.com editors.
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