Powerade's David wins Philippine Cup BPC award

Published January 27, 2012 6:50pm

Powerade's Gary David bested Petron's Arwind Santos for the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award in the 37th PBA Philippine Cup.

Powerade's Gary David receives the Best Player of the Conference award. Photo by KC Cruz

David, the Tigers' swingman, was named the winner of the highest individual award being given every conference prior to the start of Game Four of the best-of-seven finals between defending champion Talk 'N Text and Powerade Friday at the Araneta Coliseum. Rookie Marcio Lassiter—David's teammate—Petron's Alex Cabagnot and B-MEG's James Yap were the other nominees.

David, selected by Coca-Cola as the 10th overall pick in the 2004 PBA Rookie Draft, collected 1,268 points to beat Santos by 109 (1,159). Cabagnot came in third with 569, Yap placed fourth (464), while Lassiter was at fifth (454).

The former Lyceum Pirate only placed second in statistical points and among the players' votes with 411 and 139, respectively. A huge chunk of his total tally came from the media (568) and the PBA Commissioner's Office (150).

Arwind Santos, the BPC winner in the last Governors Cup, led the statistical points (446) and players' votes (258), only to falter in the media votes (380) and Commissioner's Office (75).

"Malaking honor ang manalo ng Best Player of the Conference," said the 33-year-old David, the league's current scoring champion. "Pero iba pa rin talaga ang manalo ng championship."

Powerade's top gunner averaged 25 points in the 21 games he played in the All-Filipino Conference. He scored at least 30 points or more in six straight post-season games.

But David will be best remembered for his scorching 37-point performance, backed by eight three-pointers, in Powerade's 131-123 overtime win over B-MEG. That win by the eight-seeded Tigers eliminated the top-ranked Llamados. David scored 16 straight points bridging the fourth quarter and the overtime period as the Tigers earned a semifinals meeting with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. It was David's first major individual award since being part of the First Mythical Team in 2006 while playing for Air21.

David, a former Comeback Player of the Year awardee by the PBA Press Corps, became the third player in Powerade’s history to win the BPC award after Jeffrey Cariaso in the 2002 All-Filipino Conference and Rudy Hatfield in the 2003 Reinforced. — JVP, GMA News

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