Petron Blaze’s Arwind Santos leads Best Player race

MANILA—Arwind Santos, after several near-misses, is again in contention for a first-ever Player of the Conference award.

Elevating his game several notches up in the absence of key Petron teammates, the 6-foot-4 Santos topped the statistical points race in the PBA Governors’ Cup with ease and looked set to going all the way this time.

After averaging 16.7 points and 14.5 rebounds in 13 games for the Boosters, Santos ended his season-ending stint with a 37.54 statistical points average, more than three ahead of the second placed Solomon Mercado of Meralco.

Sonny Thoss, Alaska’s starting center, was the second of only three locals in the field to average a double-double, his 12.4 points and 10.3 boards per game giving him third place with a 31.23 SP average.

Marc Pingris of B-Meg was the third and last player with a double-double after shooting 10.9 points and grabbing 10.2 rebounds a night that put him in 10th spot overall with a 26.62 average.

“I think I have a better chance this time,” said Santos, who finished second to then Sta. Lucia stalwart Kelly Williams twice in the BPC race before winding up in the same spot in the MVP derby in the 2007-2008 season.

The BPC and Best Import awards will be handed out before tip-off of Friday’s Game 3. The season-ending MVP awards will be held on Sunday.

Rain or Shine’s braided reinforcement, Arizona Reid, also has a comfortable lead over Alaska’s Jason Forte, 52.08 compared to Forte’s 47.69, in the Best Import race.

Though Petron’s Anthony Grundy has a 46.50 average and is playing in the Finals, voting for the Best Import will boil down to the two simply because they are the only two imports who started and ended the conference with their respective teams.

Mark Caguioa of crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra was fourth in the BPC with a 30.31 average with reigning MVP James Yap of the Llamados in fifth with a 29.31 average.

Interestingly enough, the highest place that a member of the Grand Slam-seeking Talk ‘N Text team occupies is eighth. Jason Castro is also the only Texter in the Top 10.

The Texters topped the eliminations spot with a 6-2 record and won three games in the semifinals to make the title series against the Boosters with ease.

Castro, who shared the Philippine and Commissioner’s Cups Finals MVP award with Jimmy Alapag, actually fell four notches down after having occupied fourth spot after the eliminations. His 27.46 SP average will obviously fall short in the voting.