Castro, Fajardo pace BPC derby

MANILA, Philippines - Three-time Best Player of the Conference winner Jayson Castro is well on target for another BPC plum with his consistent performance that carried TNT KaTropa to the top ranking in the PBA Governors Cup playoffs beginning Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo also remains a contender with his double-double averages, and Terrence Romeo could’ve made it a tight three-way race if not for the GlobalPort’s failure to advance in the elims.

The other leading performers in the elimination round were Alaska Milk’s Calvin Abueva, another Batang Pier Stanley Pringle, Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio, San Miguel’s Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos and TNT’s Ranidel de Ocampo.

Meanwhile, Meralco’s Chris Newsome, TNT’s Troy Rosario and Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson were the top rookies.

But it was Castro who stood tall, at least in the elims, with his tournament-best 7.9 assists per game and league second best 21.4 points per outing. On top of that, he also got 3.8 rebounds and 1.09 steals a game.

Of course, a big plus for the TNT top gun is the Texters’ dominant 10-1 (win-loss) showing in the elims, two full games clear of the Beermen (8-3) and the Gin Kings (8-3).

He twice hit the 30-point mark, scored in double figures in all but one of their 11 games and submitted four double-double outings, making him a standout in the elims.

Fajardo ranked among the top as he led the rebounding department (11.64) and wound up fourth in scoring (20.5) behind Romeo (25.0), Castro and Pringle (21.3).

The San Miguel behemoth, the reigning PBA back-to-back MVP, was actually the lone local player to average double-double numbers in the elims.

Romeo came up with numbers approximating those of Castro and Fajardo, but his BPC hopes suffered a setback on GlobalPort’s failure to make the playoffs.

The same with Pringle, the other half of the dynamic GlobalPort backcourt duo.

June Mar Fajardo

 Next to Romeo, Castro, Pringle and Fajardo in scoring were Cabagnot (16.6), Carlo Lastimosa (15.9), Aguilar (15.3), Abueva (14.56), Tenorio (13.6) and Santos (13.6) to round out the Top 10.

Right behind Castro in playmaking were Romeo (5.7), Jimmy Alapag (5.5), Chris Ross (5.3), LA Revilla (5.1), Pringle (4.9), Sol Mercado (4.4), Simon Enciso (4.2), Newsome (4.1) and Tenorio (4.1).

 The usual names were the leading competitors in rebounding, except for one big surprise in Thompson, the 5-foot-10 Ginebra guard who collared 8.3 caroms per game.

Thompson was fourth behind Fajardo, Abueva (8.78) and Asi Taulava (8.4).

Actually, there was a time when Thompson ranked second behind Fajardo after snaring 38 rebounds in games against Star, Mahindra and Phoenix.

In four games, the former Perpetual Help do-it-all star pulled down at least 10 boards.