TALK ‘N Text spitfire Jayson Castro hoists his Best Player of the Conference trophy before last night’s Game 3 of the title series. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
MANILA, Philippines — Getting a huge lift from the media votes by cornering all but one of 37 first-place nods, Jayson Castro Tuesday night won the Best Player award of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup, nipping Talk ‘N Text teammate Ranidel De Ocampo.
Castro, the fleet-footed Gilas Pilipinas standout, tallied 1,163 points after also topping the statistical points race over De Ocampo and getting 150 from a possible 250 votes from the PBA.
It was the second BPC citation for Castro, who won his first when the Tropang Texters swept Rain or Shine in four games of the Philippine Cup Finals last season.
De Ocampo finished with 831 points, with Asi Taulava, the 41-year-old former MVP who helped Air21 make it all the way to the Final Four, coming in third with 552 points.
The 6-foot-7 De Ocampo, one of the finest power forwards in the land, remained without a BPC trophy despite getting more first-place votes from fellow players.
Castro’s victory also automatically made him a candidate for the season MVP award together with San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo, who won the BPC in the Philippine Cup won by San Mig Coffee.
“I am very happy with the award,” Castro said in Filipino, moments before tip-off of Game 3 Tuesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum where the Texters and the Mixers were breaking a 1-1 tie in their best-of-five title series. “But of course, I would trade any individual award for a championship.”
San Miguel’s Fajardo tallied 447 points and Arwind Santos, the reigning MVP, had 409 to bring up the rear of the elite five-man list.
Talk ‘N Text actually scored a sweep of the conference’s individual awards after Richard Howell won the Best Import trophy in runawat style over James Mays of San Mig Coffee.
Wayne Chism of Rain or Shine, who played with a swollen left knee in the last two games for the Elasto Painters, was third with 595 followed by Wes Witherspoon of Air21 (503).