SMB's Fajardo extends PBA dominance with record 7th BPC award

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Beer’s June Mar Fajardo continues to further his legacy after notching his seventh Best Player of the Conference award, pulling away from his mentor and solidifying his bid for adding yet another Most Valuable Player hardware to his collection.

Friday night’s pronouncement formalizes Fajardo’s feat. The Cebuano cager has long been a cinch to win the plum after the Beermen eliminated the Alaska Aces from playoff contention, in the process besting Vic Manual in the race.

The 6-foot-10 behemoth garnered a total 1,153 votes from the league, the players, the media, and the stats race. Manuel, who was the far second, had 766. GlobalPort’s Stanley Pringle, who finished at third place in the race, tallied 545.

Best Import x BPC!#PBAFinals pic.twitter.com/ZVQufaqADm

— PBA (@pbaconnect) August 3, 2018

Fajardo’s latest achievement has put him ahead of his mentor and ex-San Miguel star Danny Ildefonso in the number of BPC plums won. The latter finished his career with five such awards.

The seven BPCs of the 28-year-old Fajardo is the most by any player in league history.

Five of the soft-spoken Fajardo's BPC awards came in the all-Filipino conference. He has long joined the ranks of the PBA superstars by winning his fourth staright MVP last year, matching the great Ramon Fernandez and Alvin Patriomonio.

.@pbaconnect reveals the breakdown for the Master Sardines-Best Player of the Conference and Best Import for the 2018 PBA mid-season joust. @StarSportsHub @PhilstarNews @PhilippineStar pic.twitter.com/4lkn9njbCi

— Denison Rey Dalupang (@sonrd) August 3, 2018