TnT’s Castro wins BPC plum; Durham of Meralco is Best Import

MANILA, Philippines – Though their team missed the finals, TNT KaTropa top gun Jayson Castro left much imprint in the PBA Governors Cup making him the worthy winner of the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) plum.

Castro won the top individual award over San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo, Alaska Milk’s Calvin Abueva and Globalport teammates Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle, and was feted by the league shortly before Game Two of the Ginebra-Meralco finale at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday.

The Meralco fans roared as Allen Durham was announced the winner of the Best Import award, beating Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee in a close fight.

Castro and Durham were presented their trophies by PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa and chairman Robert Non in brief awards rites.

Durham, from Grace Bible College, was the first Meralco reinforcement ever to win the Bobby Parks Trophy.

Castro, meanwhile, kept his pace of winning one BPC award per season in the last four years

The reigning back-to-back FIBA Asia best point guard emerged as the BPC winner in the 2013 Philippine Cup, the 2014 Commissioner’s Cup and 2015 second conference.

Castro stood out in the conference with a tournament-best 7.4 assists per game and a league-second best 23.06 points an outing, going with other norms of 1.06 steals and 3.8 rebounds.

He distinguished himself as the only local player to lead his team in scoring, with their import Mychal Ammons norming only 15.5 points.

In bagging his latest BPC trophy, the 5-foot-10 guard out of Philippine Christian U also became an official candidate for the season’s MVP award, the highest honor to be handed out in the Leo Awards set Friday also at the Big Dome.

Fajardo and Abueva made the list of MVP candidates ahead of Castro in copping the BPC awards in the Philippine Cup and in the Commissioner’s Cup, respectively.

Banking on stats to make the official roster of candidates is Romeo.

Castro has been a multi-award player from his NCAA days to his stint in the PBL and all the way to his entry into the pros.

Named Most Improved Player in 2011, Castro also gained inclusion in the Mythical Selection in that season. And he’s since been a consistent member of that elite group.