NLEX star Robert Bolick maintains a tight grip of the top pole in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Best Player of the Conference race, but explosive Terrafirma rookie Stephen Holt is lurking close behind.

Bolick kept his lofty spot ahead of the competition at the end of the all-Filipino conference elimination round as he amassed a total of 44.5 statistical points (SPs).

The 28-year-old guard averaged a league-leading 27.4 points per game in 10 outings on top of 7.0 assists and 5.6 rebounds to power NLEX to a quarterfinals seat. Bolick only missed one game in the eliminations during the birth of his son.

The former San Beda University star posted a career-high 46 points in the Road Warriors’ 115-93 win over Converge last 9 March.

Holt, however, emerged as an immediate threat to Bolick’s BPC aspiration after climbing up to the No. 2 spot with 41.5 sps based on the latest statistical count released at the end of the elims last Wednesday.

The 6-foot-4 Filipino-American forward, the top pick in the last rookie draft, displayed an all-around performance with impressive averages of 21.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 2.5 steals.

He played a huge role in the Dyip’s first-ever quarters appearance in eight years when Terrafirma ousted NorthPort, 104-96, in a playoff for the eighth and last ticket to the next round.

The 32-year-old Holt is also the runaway candidate for Rookie of the Year, with second placer Zav Lucero of Northport far behind with 24.8 SPs.

Just 0.5 SPs behind Holt is seven-time Most Valuable Player and nine-time BPC winner San Miguel Beer big man June Mar Fajardo.

The 6-foot-10 center tops the rebounding department with an average of 14.1 boards to go with 16.0 points and 2.8 assists.

At No. 4 is Barangay Ginebra’s Christian Standhardinger with 38.9 SPs off norms of 19.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists.

Sitting at the fifth spot is the Commissioner’s Cup BPC winner CJ Perez of the Beermen with 38.7 SPs. He averaged 21.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.3 steals.

Following the Batang Pier’s exit, Arvin Tolentino dropped from the second spot to sixth with 36.4 SPs. He finished his campaign with 21.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.2 assists average.

Rounding out the Top 10 are Calvin Oftana of TNT (35.5 SPs), teammates Santi Santillan (34.8 SPs) and Beau Belga (33.7 SPs) of Rain or Shine, and Ian Sangalang (32.6 SPs) of Magnolia.