Fajardo leads BPC race over rival Abueva

SAN MIGUEL center June Mar Fajardo (right) tries a putback against Alaska’s Cyrus Baguio (left) and Sonny Thoss during Game 1 of the Philippine Cup Finals between the Beermen and the Aces. The two teams were playing at press time. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Voting for the Best Player of the Conference award for the PBA Philippine Cup started yesterday with the race likely to boil down between San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo and Alaska’s Calvin Abueva.

Fajardo, the 6-foot-10 cornerstone of the Beermen, finished ahead of everyone else in the statistical points race after dominating several departments, including scoring with 19.2 per game.

Abueva, Alaska’s “energizer bunny” who edged Fajardo in the Rookie of the Year race in 2012, is running second also with tremendous all-around numbers. He is third in scoring with just a shade under 16 points a night.

Fajardo, the reigning MVP, is also the rebounding leader with 12.5 a night and is leading everyone in blocks per game with 2.1 per contest to norm 41.6 SPs in 15 games.

Abueva, who played four more games after the Aces went through the quarterfinals and needed six games to dispatch Rain or Shine, is the Alaska scoring leader, but what makes him stand out in his first three years in the league is his ability to contest for rebounds.

Standing just over 6-foot-1, Abueva is averaging 11.6 boards per game, third in the league behind Fajardo and the 7-foot Greg Slaughter of Barangay Ginebra, who plucked down an average of 12.1.

In fact, Abueva averaged more rebounds than 6-foot-10 NLEX center Asi Taulava, who played only up until the quarterfinals and finished with an average of 11.2 boards.

Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos of San Miguel and Greg Slaughter of Barangay Ginebra, last season’s top rookie, are the other candidates, but all have not made impacts on their teams like Fajardo and Abueva.

San Miguel topped the elimination round with a 9-2 record, while Alaska finished third but owns one of only two losses that the Beermen have taken all tournament long.

Stanley Pringle of Globalport also opened up a wide lead over Matt Ganuelas-Rosser in the Rookie of the Year race with a 29.7 SP clip.

Tabbed first overall by the Batang Pier in the Draft, the 6-foot Pringle averaged 15 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.9 steals a contest to be No. 9 overall in the SP race.

Meanwhile, the league announced that the annual All-Star Game will be held in Puerto Princesa from March 5 to 8. This will be the second time that the four-day spectacle will be held at Puerto Princesa City Coliseum after it first hosted the event in 2010.

Cliff Hodge, the hardworking power forward of the Meralco Bolts, high-leaping Japeth Aguilar of Ginebra, Taulava, Pringle and Talk ‘N Text point guard Jason Castro make up the Top 10 in the SP derby.