Fajardo, Aguilar, Santos, Castro lead PBA BPC race

CEBU, Philippines -  Talk n Text’s Jayson Castro hung on as the scoring leader, Petron Blaze’s Junmar Fajardo remained the dominant rebounding power while Barangay Ginebra’s LA Tenorio set the pace in playmaking through the 2013 stretch of the PBA Season 39 Philippine Cup.

Petron’s Chris Ross, Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar and Mac Baracael and TnT’s Jimmy Alapag are also stats leaders entering the closing stage of the elimination round of the all-Filipino tourney.

Standing out with double-double averages were Fajardo, Globalport’s Jay Washington, Petron’s Arwind Santos, Ginebra rookie behemoth Greg Slaughter, Alaska Milk’s Gabby Espinas and ageless Air21 center Asi Taulava.

If the Best Player of the Conference were to be handed now, players who could well be in contention are Fajardo, Aguilar, Santos and Castro.

The PLDT MyDSL PBA Philippine Cup resumes Saturday with a double-header at the Mall of Asia Arena pitting Meralco versus Air21 and Talk n Text against Alaska Milk.

Castro leads the scoring race with an average of 20.67 points per game, closely followed by Globalport one-two punch of  Washington (20.40) and Sol Mercado (20.20).

Washington and Globalport rookie Terrence Romeo set the pace in scoring early on.

The vastly improved Aguilar is a fourth with a 19.80-point norm, followed by Santos (16.90), Fajardo (15.50), reigning scoring champ Gary David (15.40), Joseph Yeo (15.40), Slaughter (15.40) and Chris Lutz (15.2) to round out the Top 10.

Fajardo, Washington, Slaughter, Santos and Aguilar are also in the Magic 10 in rebounding.

The Petron Blaze behemoth, missing their last two games due to a bruised knee, is the frontrunner with 17.250 a game, then come Taulava (13), Washington (10.7), Slaughter (10.4), Santos (10.2), Espinas (10.1), Aguilar (9.5), Rabeh Al-Hussaini (9.0), Marc Pingris (8.7) and Harvey Carey (8.6).

In the business of playmaking, Tenorio is No. 1 with 7.5 assists per game. Next are Mike Cortez (6.4), Yeo (5.7), Lutz (5.2), Alex Cabagnot (5.2), Castro (4.8), Ross (4.7), Alapag (4.571), Mark Barroca (4.5) and Mercado (4.3).

Ross is on top in the steals list (2.286), Aguilar leads the blocks department (3.8), Baracael is deadliest in three-point shooting (15-of-31) while Alapag set a very high standard in free throws (perfect on 24-of-24 clip).

Standing out with impressive all-around numbers are Fajardo with 17.25 rebounds, 15.5 points, 3.0 blocks, and 1.62 assists; Aguilar with 19.8 markers, 9.5 boards, 3.8 blocks and 1.4 dish-outs; Castro with 20.67 points, 5.67 rebounds, 4.89 assists and 1.0 steal; and Santos with 16.9 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.7 blocks.

Right behind them are Slaughter with 15.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks; Washington with 20.4 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 steal; Tenorio with 10.9 points, 7.5 assists, 5.5 blocks and 1.7 steals; and Mercado with 20.2 points, 4.10 rebounds and 4.3 assists.

In the upper half of the chart with no single player atop the stats sheets is Rain or Shine.

For the Elasto Painters compete with evenly spread numbers.

Jeff Chan is the most productive E-Painter, averaging 14.4 points, 2.89 rebounds and 2.56 assists followed by Paul Lee (13.3 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.8 apg), Jervy Cruz (10.6 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.1 apg) and Beau Belga (9.12 ppg, 6.62 rpg, 2.25 apg).

Leading players of other teams are Taulava (12.6 ppg, 13.0 rpg and, 2.3 apg, 1.0 spg) and Yeo (15.4 ppg, 5.20 rpg, 5.7 apg) for Air21; Sonny Thoss (14.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.8 apg) and Espinas (10.6 ppg, 10.10 rpg, 2.2 apg) for Alaska; Denok Miranda (12.57 ppg, 3.29 rpg, 4.14 apg) and JC Intal (10.36 ppg, 4.45 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.0 spg) for Barako Bull; Mike Cortez (12.2 ppg, 6.4 apg, 3.6 rpg) and Reynel Hugnatan (10.78 ppg, 7.44 rpg, 1.0 apg) for Meralco; and Pingris (11.22 ppg, 8.78 rpg, 3.78 apg) and Barroca (14.3 ppg, 5.10 rpg, 4.5 apg, 2.2 spg) for San Mig Coffee. — Philippine Star News Service