PBA: Arvin Tolentino, Calvin Oftana frontrunners for Best Player plum

NorthPort’s Arvin Tolentino and TNT’s Calvin Oftana lead race for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Best Player race. –INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

NorthPort’s Arvin Tolentino and TNT’s Calvin Oftana are seen as the strongest contenders for the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Best Player of the Conference after the official candidates for the award were announced Thursday.

Tolentino placed third in the Statistical Points category with 36.3 while Oftana was ranked fifth at 31.9 through the end of the semifinal phase of the midseason tournament based on the tally provided by PBA chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III.

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San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo remains ahead with 42.0 Statistical Points followed by NLEX’s ace scorer Robert Bolick with 37.1 while Converge rookie Jordan Heading sits fourth at 32.6.

The three players, however, have been ruled out of consideration after San Miguel and NLEX failed to make the playoffs and Converge lost to Rain or Shine in the quarterfinals.

That leaves Tolentino and Oftana as the two players that will be pondered heavily by voters, composed of media and players, who will be part of the process to determine the winner.

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Forty-five percent of the statistics will be used, 30 percent are media votes while the remaining 25 will come from the players.

Tolentino was earlier seen as BPC frontrunner after leading NorthPort to an unlikely run to the conference’s Final Four. He averaged 20.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks in 18 games for the Batang Pier.

But Tolentino’s struggles in NorthPort’s semifinal series loss to Barangay Ginebra could allow Oftana to get the nod instead.

Oftana had 18.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 18 games, but more importantly, helped TNT reach the Finals after defeating Rain or Shine in the other semis pairing.

Both players have never won the BPC award in their young careers.