Cruz, Ross, Lee in heated race for PBL MVP award

A former UAAP MVP, a talented Fil-Am and an emerging star would most likely battle it out in the race for the PBL PG Flex Linoleum Cup MVP honors.

Hapee Toothpaste’s Jervy Cruz, Pharex’s Chris Ross and Bacchus Energy Drink’s Paul Lee piled up statistics worthy of an MVP with just a few more games before end of the 12-game elimination round.

Cruz, a Santo Tomas standout and 2007 UAAP MVP, leads the league in rebounds with an average of 10.2 boards in nine outings and is currently second in scoring with a norm of 15.2 points.

So dominating was Cruz, who barely lost the 2008 MVP plum to Ateneo’s Rabeh Al-Hussaini, that he was nearly untouchable inside, making 53 of the 87 for an impressive 61 percent.

“He’s one of our sources of strength,” said Hapee coach Gee Abanilla of the 6-4 Cruz.

Ross, a versatile 6-2 guard out of Marshall University in Texas, averaged a league-best 5.8 assists and 3.1 steals to go with solid norms of 11.6 points and 4.8 caroms.

Lee, a fast improving rookie guard out of University of the East, had surprised everybody by emerging the improbable scoring leader with a norm of 16.9 points in 10 impressive games.

The former San Sebastian Staglet was one of the reasons why the Energy Warriors are at third place right now with a 5-5 (win-loss) slate.

“When I first saw Paul (Lee), I knew he’s going to be an integral part in our campaign. And he’s proving me right with his stellar play right now,” said Bacchus mentor Lawrence Chongson.

Curiously, five-peat champion Harbour Centre and Magnolia Purewater, the league leaders, have no players in the MVP race for now since the two clubs rely heavily on a balanced attack.

The six-peat Mikee Romero-owned Batang Pier have been drawing superb effort from Reed Juntilla, Rico Maeirhofer, BJ Fernandez and Mark Andy Barroca while the Purewater drew their strength from the troika of Dylan Ababou, Neil Raneses and Al Magpayo.