Fajardo stands tall, moves closer to 12th BPC award

San Miguel Beer center June Mar Fajardo is on the right track of hiking his Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Best Player of the Conference (BPC) collection to 12.

The eight-time Most Valuable Player has emerged as the frontrunner for the highest individual award in the ongoing Philippine Cup after amassing 40.4 statistical points (sps) after the elimination round.

Fajardo posted impressive averages of 17.5 points, 13.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.7 blocks and 0.6 steals per game. He led the Beermen to an 8-3 win-loss record in the elims for the No. 1 seeding in the playoffs.

The 6-foot-10 behemoth, who won his 11th BPC in the season-opening Governors’ Cup before losing to NorthPort’s Arvin Tolentino in the Commissioner’s Cup race, is almost two points clear of closest pursuer teammate CJ Perez.

Perez collected 38.5 sps with norms of 23.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.2 block per outing for San Miguel, which is looking to make a deep run in the playoffs after an early exit last tournament.

Robert Bolick of NLEX is running third with 37.6 sps followed by Zav Lucero of Magnolia (37.3) and Jason Perkins of Phoenix (35.3).

At No. 6 is Calvin Oftana of TNT (35.4) followed by Converge’s twin towers Justin Arana (34.6) and Justine Baltazar (34.6), Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra (34.2) while Joshua Munzon of NorthPort (32.3) round out the Top 10.

In the Top 10, only Perkins and Munzon are not seeing action in the all-Filipino conference playoffs after their respective teams’ early exit.

Tolentino played only two games for the Batang Pier in the Philippine Cup due to a right hip flexor injury before eventually signing with Seoul SK Knights in the Korean Basketball League.