By Jonas Terrado
San Miguel Beer rookie Christian Standhardinger took an initial step in his bid to claim his first major award by topping the Best Player of the Conference race at the end of the PBA Governors’ Cup eliminations.
The 29-year-old Fil-German compiled 43.1 Statistical Points after leading all locals in scoring and rebounding to pace the derby by a wide margin over second-running Japeth Aguilar of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
Aguilar tallied 34.8 SPs, followed by Alaska’s Chris Banchero at 34.2 and NorthPort’s Stanley Pringle with 34.0.
Standhardinger lived up to his billing as the top overall pick of last year’s draft in only his second conference by averaging 23.3 points and 13.6 rebounds, emerging as the Beermen’s top local during June Mar Fajardo’s absence in the first nine games due to an injured right shin.
His strong showing came despite having to deal with a busy schedule of representing the Philippines in the Jakarta Asian Games and the fourth window of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
He is no longer in contention for Rookie of the Year honors after failing to meet the requirement of playing at least 70 percent of the games this season. Standhardinger missed the Philippine Cup due to his ASEAN Basketball League stint with Hong Kong Eastern.
But Standhardinger could lose the chance of taking the BPC plum if San Miguel fails to advance past the quarterfinals of the season-ending conference.
The Beermen finished sixth in the eliminations at 6-5, and will need to beat the No. 3 Alaska Aces twice in their quarterfinal duel that began at presstime at the Cuneta Astrodome.
