Santos shows way in race for PBA’s best player honors

source: gmanews.tv

Now with San Miguel Beer, Arwind Santos is again making a case for a first ever Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy.

The lanky former Far Eastern University King Tamaraw showed the way in the race for the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award at the halfway mark of the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup elimination round.

Santos garnered a leading average statistical points (SPs) of 38.9 after coming in second in scoring and in rebounding, while ending up as the only non Fil-Am to average in double figures in the said departments.

He normed 18.22 points and 10.22 rebounds through nine games to take the No. 1 spot in the BPC race.

Acquired by the Beermen in the off-season, Santos had been a perennial Best Player of the Conference and MVP contender in his three seasons with Burger King, but never got to win either of the individual plum.

Sta. Lucia Realty’s Kelly Williams, who’s the top rebounder (13.44) and fifth-best scorer (16.89), came in second in the SPs with an average of 38.1.

Alaska’s Willie Miller, the first guard to win the MVP twice, occupied third in the BPC derby with 35.6 SPs while Mac-Mac Cardona of Talk ‘N Text stood at fourth spot with his 33.4 SPs average.

Rounding out the Top 10 contenders for the BPC were LA Tenorio of Alaska (31.3 SPs); Ronald Tubid of Ginebra (30.0); Joe DeVance of Alaska (29.6); Jimmy Alapag of Talk ‘N Text (29.1); Dondon Hontiveros of San Miguel (28.6); and Jay-Jay Helterbrand of Ginebra (28.4).

A career best 40-point output against Burger King last Nov. 27 allowed Cardona to become the leading scorer so far with his 21.0 average.

Helterbrand, on the other hand, emerged as the leading assist man with 6.2 per game while teammate and 1996 MVP Johnny Abarrientos, who played three games in the first round, showed the way in steals (2.33).

Tenorio got the distinction as the top free-throw shooter with a 90.32 percent clip (28-of-31) while Ali Peek came out as the best shot blocker (2.22).

In the race for Rookie of the Year honors, Purefoods’ Rico Maierhofer, the second pick in the draft, enjoyed a commanding lead over the rest of the pack.

The ex-La Salle slotman has normed 23.1 SPs on the strength of his 9.44 points an outing and 7.22 rebounds a game. Coming in second was Realtor Joshua Urbiztondo, who logged an average SP of 16.2, followed by Roger Menor of Barako Bull (14.0 SPs) and former UAAP MVP Jervy Cruz of Rain or Shine (13.6).