Fajardo dominates ‘Best Player’ derby

June Mar Fajardo continues to dominate the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) despite the resurgence of an old rival and the emergence of up-and-coming talents looking to make their mark.

Already wearing a feathered hat, the San Miguel Beer center has been making a strong case for a record-extending 13th Best Player of the Conference award with another stellar performance in the ongoing Season 50 Philippine Cup.

The 6-foot-10 behemoth tightened his grip in the statistical race for the highest individual award in the season-opening conference after averaging 45.4 statistical points (SPs) for over four points lead against his closest pursuer at the end of the quarterfinals.

Fajardo is putting up double-double norms after 12 games with 17.4 points and a league-high 15.3 rebounds to go with 6.1 assists and 1.1 blocks.

His consistent performance helped the Beermen recover from a 0-2 start as the defending champions racked up 10 straight victories to book a second straight semifinals appearance.

San Miguel will face Barangay Ginebra in the best-of-seven series starting today.

Pursuing the 36-year-old Cebu pride is Titan Ultra’s Calvin Abueva.

The Giant Risers and the conference’s top scorer collected 41.2 SPs during the elimination round.

Abueva, who was the second overall pick after Fajardo during the deep 2012 Draft, averaged 23.6 markers per game in his first dance with the newest squad in the league.

Converge’s young bloods rookie Juan Gomez de Liaño and center Justine Baltazar are tied in third and fourth spots with identical 37.2 SPs.

Sitting at No. 5 is Magnolia’s Zav Lucero, the leading player in blocks with 2.0 per outing, with 33.8 SPs ahead of Titan’s Joshua Munzon (33.6 SPs).

Rounding up the Top 10 were San Miguel’s CJ Perez (32.92 SPs), TNT’s Calvin Oftana (32.91 SPs), Converge’s Justin Arana (32.6 SPs) and Meralco’s CJ Cansino (31.2 SPs) rounded up the Top 10.

Ginebra’s RJ Abarrientos (31.1 SPs), Beermen guard Don Trollano (30.5 SPs), Ginebra’s Stephen Holt (30.4 SPs) and Scottie Thompson (30.2 SPs) and Meralco’s Chris Newsome (28.0 SPs) were just a few points outside of the Top 10.

Fajardo is in a good position to win a second straight BPC with Abueva and De Liano already out of the semifinal picture.

Aside from the nine-time Most Valuable Player, who delivered a monster 26-point, 23-rebound game in the Beermen’s 101-94 blitz over No. 8 NLEX in the quarters, only Perez, Oftana, Cansino, Abarrientos, Trollano, Holt, Thompson and Newsome are still playing in the semis.

The second overall pick in the recent Draft, Gomez De Liaño, was the top-performing rookie.

The first player in PBA history to record a triple-double in his debut game has averaged 19.0 points, 7.2 boards, 6.7 assists and 1.2 steals in an impressive first conference.

He has left other newbies in Blackwater’s Dalph Panopio (21.9 SPs), Terrafirma’s JM Bravo (19.1 SPs) at 57th, Ginebra’s Sonny Estil (15.9 SPs) at 79th and Magnolia’s Chris Koon (14.0 SPs) at 96th choking on his dust.