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Jason
Castro and Francis Allera are miles apart in terms of
stature in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL).
Castro
is a two-time PBL Most Valuable Player and the current
go-to guy of four-time champion Harbour Centre. Allera,
on the other hand, is just one of the numerous new faces
playing for Pharex, the latest member of the PBL family.
But the
previous week saw the two players stand side by side
after the PBL Press Corps named them the Coplayers of
the Week for their sterling performances.
Despite
playing with limited time following the arrival of
Filipino-American Solomon Mercado and other exciting
players like Jeff Chan and Ty Tang, the five-foot-nine
Castro still found a way to shine, especially in their
game against Toyota Otis.
Just
when the Sparks seemed ready to spoil the fourpeat
champion’s winning run, Castro suddenly came alive,
scoring seven big points to help Harbour score an 89-83
win.
He
finished with a 60-percent shooting clip (six-of-10) for
his conference best 19 points, while adding four
rebounds, three feeds and a block in 23 minutes of
action.
“Jason
again showed why he is a special player by coming
through with big baskets when we needed it,” said coach
Jorge Gallent.
Not to
be outdone was Allera, the rising star from University
of Santo Tomas, who is proving to be what the doctors
ordered for the Medics.
With
Allera leading the team’s assault, the Medics got off to
a franchise best start of 5-1. In their maiden stint
last conference, the Medics won only twice in nine
games.
Pharex
won its two games scheduled this week, with the
six-foot-four forward averaging 17.5 points on an
eye-popping eight-of-11 combined shooting from the
three-point arc.
Allera
knocked in 18 points, including a three-of-five from the
trey, in leading his team to a 100-96 victory against
last conference runner-up Hapee Toothpaste on Tuesday.
He returned four days later and burned the hoops as
Allera missed just one-in-six attempts from beyond the
arc for a 17-point output in the Medics 90-75 rout of
Noosa Shoes.
“He’s
such a great shooter,” said coach Carlo Tan on Allera,
who became the second Pharex player after pointguard
Ronnie Bughao to win the weekly award. “He has not
reached his full potential but he’s going to become a
great player someday.” |
