H Centre’s Cardona wins MVP plum

PBL most valuable player Mark Cardona has been dreaming of playing in the pro league long time ago, but something is missing in his celebrated amateur career.

Not anymore.

The prized guard of Harbour Centre completed his already astounding resume by finally winning the biggest one — the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the 2005 PBL Unity Cup.

Playing with lots of maturity and a little wiser this conference, Cardona, 23, tallied 408.43 points to beat four of the league’s finest big men, among them Welcoat’s Anthony Washington and Montaña’s Jondan Salvador, for the highest individual award.

Though he did not expect to get the plum following the early exit of Harbour Centre, Cardona, who won the UAAP Finals MVP last year, proudly raised the MVP trophy before his adoring fans.

His eyes a little bit glassy, Cardona thanked his teammates as well as his fans, the coaching staff and management of Harbour Centre, especially owner Mikee Romero, for the support they provided since Day One of their practice.

"Una po sa lahat, ako po ay nagpapasalamat sa Diyos dahil sinagot nya ang dasal ko. Hindi ko po ito ini-expect pero marami pong salamat sa mga teammates ko, sa fans at sa management," said Cardona. "I’m going to cherish this award the rest of my life."

For helping Harbour to post an 8-3 win-loss card, Cardona, who has long signified his interest to join the pro ranks, topped the statistics (418 points) and the player-media votes (389) to edge out Washington who tallied 375.62.

Salvador, last conference’s MVP, was third with 348.95 while last year’s MVP Arwind Santos of Magnolia Dairy Ice Cream wound up fourth with 337.27.

Cardona also led the First Team along with Granny Goose’s JR Quinahan, Santos, Washington and Salvador.

Cardona’s Harbour teammate LA Tenorio headed the Second Team that included Montaña’s Froilan Baguion, Magnolia’s Denok Miranda, Welcoat’s Leo Najorda and Nenaco’s Yousif Aljamal.

Cardona’s performance this conference was really impressive, if not brilliant.

For the second straight time, the 6-foot guard Cardona emerged as the scoring champion after posting 22.9 points a game. He also topped the steals department with 2.54 a game and also figured well in the rebounding and assists departments.

He was No. 6 in the assist (2.72) and No. 8 in rebounds (6.63).

Other players who were given recognition were Welcoat’s Jay Coching (True Gentleman), Montaña’s Reed Juntilla (Instant Impact), Granny Goose’s Dennis Concha (Defensive Stopper), Welcoat’s Paolo Orbeta and former Toyota player Raymond Dula (Academic All-Star).