CAGUIOA IN GOOD CONTENTION FOR BPC PLUM

Published on April 13, 2012

Before being sidelined by an injury, Ginebra top gun Mark Caguioa has placed himself in a good
position to contend for the Best Player of the Conference award.

Caguioa was at second place behind Powerade’s Gary David in the statistical race through the PBA
Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals.

Powerade’s Marcio Lassiter was at third, followed by Alaska’s Cyrus Baguio and LA Tenorio then
Petron Blaze’s Arwind Santos.

Curiously, among the top six players, only Caguioa managed to lead his team to the semifinal round,
a fact that could well give him the push in the balloting among the players, the media and PBA
officials.

The Ginebra scoring dynamo could improve his chances further if he can return to play and help the
Kings make the Finals.

Badly missing his services, Ginebra was overwhelmed by B-Meg, 67-82, in the opener of their
best-of-five semifinal showdown Wednesday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

After the quarters, David still paced all the players in stats race with 34.5 a game, followed by
Caguioa (31.5), Lassiter (30.3), Baguio (29.1), Tenorio (29.0) and Santos (28.9). 

Meralco’s Macmac Cardona slid from second to ninth place, with his average stats points suffering
on his early disqualification in Game Two of their quarters duel with B-Meg.

Barako Bull’s Willie Miller and Talk n Text’s Jimmy Alapag, Ranidel de Ocampo, Jarred Dillinger
and Jason Castro are the players with chances to break into the top five after the semis.

The top five after the Final Four automatically become official candidates for the coveted award. 

Alapag and Miller and running neck and neck behind Santos with 28.0 and 27.2 average a game,
respectively.

Santos, the Best Player of the Conference winner in the Philippine Cup, could already be safe in the
Top Five. He averaged 27.1 points a game – the most by any player in years. (SB)