Stanley Pringle (PBA Images)
MANILA – Barangay Ginebra guard Stanley Pringle has been named the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) for the past Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.
On Sunday night, the league announced in a special awarding ceremony that Pringle edged Phoenix Fuel Master counterpart Matthew Wright in the closest BPC race ever.
Pringle garnered a total of 1,640 points, just 62 points ahead of Wright, who had 1,578.
The votes from the PBA Commissioner's Office ultimately decided the BPC race.
The league gave its first-place vote to Pringle, who was sixth in statistical points and second in the player votes, giving him 300 more points.
Wright, however, did not get the nod from the PBA office despite overwhelmingly taking the media vote.
The TNT guard combo of Roger Pogoy and Bobby Ray Parks finished third and fourth in the race with 958 and 876 points, respectively.
Fuel Master Calvin Abueva was fifth with 779 points, while Terrafirma Dyip's CJ Perez finished sixth with 668.
Pringle, Wright, and Abueva headlined the Elite 5 with Ginebra's Japeth Aguilar and TNT's John Paul Erram completing the cast.
Meanwhile, Ginebra center Prince Caperal beat Fuel Master Justin Chua in a much talked about Most Improved Player award race.
Caperal got 2,447 points to top Chua, who got 2,096.
Chua got the overwhelming lead in the media votes, but Caperal was ahead in the player votes.
Like the case of Pringle, the PBA vote became the deciding factor as Caperal got the nod from the league officials over Chua.
On the other hand, Ginebra's Scottie Thompson took home the Sportsmanship Award, beating Perez in yet another tight race.
Thompson's lead in the media and the player votes was more than enough to edge Perez, who got the nod from the PBA Commissioner's Office.
Thompson totaled 2,360 points, while Perez got 2,069.
On the other hand, Aaron Black became the lowest drafted player to be given the top rookie award after he was named the Outstanding Rookie of the Philippine Cup.
The 18th pick of the 2019 regular draft (23rd overall counting the special Gilas Pilipinas Men draft) bested first-round selections Roosevelt Adams, Barkley Ebona, Aris Dionisio, and Arvin Tolentino for the top rookie prize.
The Meralco guard, the son of coach Norman Black, finished with 2,002 points, topping the media votes, while Tolentino, who was tied with Dionisio on top of the player votes, came in second with 1,406.
Ebona ended up third with 1,246, while Dionisio was fifth with exactly 800 points, directly below top regular draft pick Adams, who finished fourth with 1,045.
In the tabulation of the BPC and the Outstanding Rookie awards, 40 percent will come from the statistical points, 30 percent from the media votes, 25 percent from the player votes, and five percent from the league office. (PNA)
