Fajardo, Slaughter leading stats race for BPC

Ginebra’s Greg Slaughter (20) shoots over San Miguel Beer’s Arwind Santos (29) as June Mar Fajardo looks on. PBA IMAGES

Just like old times, rivals June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter find themselves in a tight battle.

Fajardo, San Miguel Beer’s reigning back-to-back MVP, is leading the league in statistical points, but only by a hairline with Slaughter breathing down his neck.

The Ginebra’s 7-foot center, in fact, would’ve emerged on top if not for his technical foul against Mahindra a month ago that cost him a minus-5.

Fajardo garnered a total of 45.6 statistical points while Slaughter got an overall 45.3 SPs through the elimination round.

Both Fajardo and Slaughter, who have been on opposing sides since their college days in Cebu, are among the five players averaging a double-double this conference.

Slaughter is leading the league in scoring and rebounding averaging 23.5 and 15.0, respectively while Fajardo is third in scoring (23.1) and second in rebounding (14.4) and blocks (1.8).

Sean Anthony of NLEX, Stanley Pringle of GlobalPort and Asi Taulava of NLEX round out the top five.

Statistical points make up 40% of the criteria for the Best Player of the Conference award.

The 26-year-old Fajardo, who led the Beermen to a 9-2 record in the eliminations and an automatic semifinals berth, has been named Best Player of the Conference thrice including the last two Philippine Cup.