Seigle leads race for best player of conference

Danny Seigle’s hard work is paying off big for both his San Miguel Beer team and himself.

The 6-foot-6 forward, who underwent a strict conditioning regimen before the Philippine Cup, is the leading candidate for the Best Player of the Conference award after doing it all on both ends of the court.

Officially halfway through the classification phase of the season-ending tournament, Seigle has amassed a total 604 statistical points (SPs) while helping the Beermen get to the top of the standings with a 7-2 win-loss slate.

A mere 46 SPs behind is Coca-Cola center Ali Peek while former two-time MVP Danny Ildefonso and Dorian Pena, both also of SMB, come next with 543 and 518, respectively.

The BPC plum is usually a basis for determining the season MVP and the 29-year-old Rookie of the Year awardee in 1999 could have another trophy in his treasure chest if he continues what he’s been doing.

Seigle leads the scoring department with a 22.6 points per game norm. He also averages 10.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Peek, who registered a league-record 12-for-12 field shooting last March 10, has averages of 17.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and a tournament-best 2.5 blocks per game for the Tigers, who are at second-running slot with a 6-2 record.

Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa runs second in scoring with 21.9 ppg and is at fifth in the BPC race with 517, followed by Talk N Text’s Asi Taulava (15.5 ppg, conference-best 14.4 rpg and 1.6 bpg) at 507.

Others also in the thick of the race for the conference’s highest award are Purefoods Chunkee’s Kerby Raymundo with 505 SPs, Alaska’s Nic Belasco (501), Coca-Cola’s William Antonio (483) and Giant James Yap (478).