Christian Standhardinger grabbed the top spot in the race for the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup Best Player of the Conference.
The Barangay Ginebra big man dislodged San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo at No. 1 after tallying an average of 38.0 statistical points at the conclusion of the elimination round on Sunday.
The Filipino-German registered impressive numbers of 17.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.2 steals in 11 games with the third-seeded Kings.
Standhardinger was running second behind Fajardo in the BPC race halfway through the eliminations.
But the fractured left hand the 6-foot-10 Fajardo suffered that kept him out of action for six weeks left the seven-time Most Valuable Player out of the running in the latest statistical race released by the league on Tuesday.
Fajardo’s San Miguel teammate and perennial contender CJ Perez and the upstart pair of TNT’s Calvin Oftana and Arvin Tolentino of Northport are left to crowd out Standhardinger — last year’s BPC winner during the Governors’ Cup — for the conference’s highest individual award.
Perez is second with 35.2 SPs (16.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists), followed closely by Tolentino with 35.1 SPs (a conference-best 22.4 points and 5.7 rebounds), and Oftana with 35.0 SPs (21.9 points and 6.6 rebounds).
Scottie Thompson of Barangay Ginebra completed the Top 5 list with 32.5 SPs (11.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 7.6 assists).
One Barangay Ginebra player, two from Magnolia, and one each from Meralco and Phoenix round out the next five spots.
Maverick Ahanmisi also contends for the BPC award right in his first season with the Kings, taking the sixth spot with 31.3 SPs (14.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists), followed by the Hotshots duo of Jio Jalalon (12.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.5 assists), and Mark Barroca (13.8 points and 5.1 assists) with 31.2 and 29.2 SPs, respectively.
Chris Newsome (13.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists) of Meralco occupies ninth spot with 28.4 SPs, and at no. 10 is Jason Perkins (13.2 points, 6.2 rebounds) of Phoenix with 27.33 SPs.
Interesting is the battle for the Best Import Award as a pair of replacement are showing the way.
Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson of TNT is currently at No. 1 with 67.5 SPs in just two games after taking over from his brother Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. He leads the imports in scoring with 42.5 points, while adding 12.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and 2.5 steals.
San Miguel’s Bennie Boatwright, who filled in the shoes of Ivan Aska, is breathing down the neck of Hollis-Jefferson at second place with 67.3 SPs behind averages of 40.3 points and 13.3 rebounds.
Another replacement in Shonn Miller (27.0 points and 17.3 rebounds) of Meralco is in third place with 55.0 SPs, followed by Jonathan Williams (27.0 points, 15. 6 rebounds, and 5.5 assists) of Phoenix with 53.6 SPs.
