DIMINUTIVE Talk ‘N Text playmaker Jason Castro won his second Best Player of the Conference award after nosing out teammate Ranidel de Ocampo and overcoming a late playoff surge by evergreen Air21 big man Asi Taulava in this season’s Commissioner’s Cup.
The former Philippine Christian University stalwart garnered 1163 points, broken down into 408 points from statistics which he topped, 532 from media votes, 73 from the players votes, and 150 from the vote of the PBA Commissioner’s Office.
“Iyung indiviudual awards tulad nito, okay din, pero siyempre mas maganda ang championship, para sa buong team kasi yun eh,” said Castro.
Richard Howell completed a Talk 'N Text sweep of the individual awards in the midseason conference by beating San Mig's James Mays for the Best Import award.
Castro, who exploded for 30 points to lead Talk ‘N Text to an 86-76 win in Game Two of the Finals against San Mig, has been the most consistent local player for a team that went unbeaten in its first 13 games, averaging 15 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists this conference.
De Ocampo, the same player Castro defeated to earn his first-ever BPC award during last season’s Philippine Cup, finished with 831 total points, while the 6-9 Taulava settled for third with 552.
San Miguel Beer sophomore star center June Mar Fajardo, who dominated the Philippine CUp on the way to winning his first-ever BPC, placed fourth overall with 447 while reigning MVP Arwind Santos placed fifth with 409 points.
Howell, who is averaging 20.4 points, 18.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals, garnered a total of 1352 points broken down into 566 statistical points, 537 from the media votes, 99 from the players votes and 150 from the vote from the league office.
Mays came in a distant second with 952 points in total, followed by Rain or Shine’s Wayne Chism (595) and Air21 import Wesley Witherspoon (503).
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