SLR’s Omolon earns PBA top player honors

Nelbert Omolon is one fine example of how practice makes perfect.

By no means has the Sta. Lucia Realty forward become flawless, but he has spent countless hours honing his shooting skills and is thus steadily transforming from a mere under-the-basket player into a true-blue all-around threat.

He affirmed his status as a vital cog in the Realtors’ rotation by coming up with a career-high 40 points  last Sunday, helping SLR beat Air21, 123-106, and earn automatic semifinals passage in the Smart PBA Philippine Cup.

For the kind of game unseen in the last three conferences of the PBA, the player fondly nicknamed “Bitoy” was adjudged the Smart-Accel PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period Jan. 7-13.

It marked the first time the Realtors earned an outright passage to the Final Four since the league adopted the format starting in the 2004-05 Philippine Cup and the 27-year-old Talakag, Bukidnon native said he just wanted to do his part making that happen.

“Coach Boyet (Fernandez) said we’re making history for the team and I just want to be part of it,” said the athletic 6-foot-4, who bettered by 10 points his previous high by going 11-of-16 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.