INQUIRER Sports

TANAUAN CITY?Here?s one more entry to his long list of record-setting achievements.

In a fitting send-off, Jason Castro captured his third straight Most Valuable Player award Monday in his final season in the Philippine Basketball League.

The feat put the 5-foot-9 Harbour Centre guard in the league record books alongside that of Eric Menk, who also won the top individual plum thrice from 1997 to 1998 with Tanduay.

?Basketball changed my life; it has helped me a lot,? Castro said in Filipino.

Quite timely, too, the honor further boosted Castro?s stock just months before he heads to Australia to become the first Filipino player to see action in the National Basketball League.

?Jason deserves his third MVP trophy because he worked hard for it,? said Batang Pier team owner Mikee Romero. ?He has been phenomenal not only here but also overseas. He actually raised the bar for guards for his quickness, leaping ability and craftsmanship.?

Castro, who powered the national team to the gold medal in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, finished with a leading player?s all-around value (PAV) of 1,000.23 points (856.02 statistical points and 144.21 in players and media votes).

Just last Saturday, Castro also made it to the Mythical Team for a record five straight times.

The Guagua, Pampanga, native edged out Hapee?s Fil-Am guard Gabe Norwood, who compiled 982.41 PAV points (877.14 statistical points and 105.27 players and media votes).

Other MVP contenders were Hapee?s Larry Rodriguez (747.78 points) and Mark Borboran (745.47) and Harbour?s Chad Alonzo (734.25).

Last year, Castro became the first player in the last decade to win back-to-back MVP titles.

Even more impressive, Castro pulled off the feat despite playing for two different teams?Hapee-PCU and Harbour Centre?in two succeeding conferences in 2006 and 2007.

In his collegiate years, Castro played a key role in the Philippine Christian University?s historic turnaround from perennial cellar-dwellers to first-time NCAA champions in 2004.

?We will surely miss him not only because he?s a good and exciting player but also because he?s a good person,? said Romero of his top ward, who is set to leave for Australia in September.

?He?s very humble, that?s why we like him very much.?