Spiderman is Player of the Week

ONE simply can’t hold down a prolific producer like Arwind Santos for long.

The do-it-all forward proved that by delivering very impressive numbers in Petron Blaze’s most recent back-to-back wins to earn for himself the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week honors for the period Feb. 27 to March 4.

In the Boosters’ 102-88 and 110-103 victories over Air21 and Rain or Shine, Santos averaged 23.0 points and 11.5 rebounds that made him the scribes’ unanimous choice over Talk’N Text’s Jason Castro and Barangay Ginebra’s Mark Caguioa.

Not bad at all for someone who went into those games averaging 10.3 rebounds but just 6.7 points in Petron’s first three games, a far cry from his 17.3 ppg and 11.8 rpg norms in the Philippine Cup.

“Ang isang katulad ni Arwind di mo mapipigilan talaga. Talagang lalabas at lalabas ang laro niya,” said Boosters coach Ato Agustin of his long-limbed ace who also averaged 3.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and a steal in the week that was.

For the 30-year-old, it was simply a matter of adjusting to their import, Nick Fazekas, and the opposition.

“Iba kasi kapag may import, siyempre kailangang medyo baguhin mo laro mo. At saka di rin nagpapabaya iyung mga kalaban kaya kailangang medyo mag-adjust ka rin ng konti sa depensang ibinibigay sa iyo,” said Santos.

Those efforts handsomely paid off as Santos produced a new career-high 34 points on top of 13 rebounds in the game against the Elasto Painters last Sunday. The points were two better than his previous high set during the 2007-08 season, when he was still with Air21.

Santos gave a prelude of things to come with 12 points and 10 boards against the team formerly known as Shopinas.com last Wednesday.

Those victories actually jacked Petron’s streak to three, pushing it into a share of third-running spot.

Both Agustin and Santos just want their team to keep its roll going as they strive to make the playoffs.

“Basta kung ano man ang magagawa ko, gagawin ko,” said Santos.

Making a case for themselves were Caguioa, who scored 31 points — his highest output since the 2008 Fiesta Cup semifinals, in Ginebra’s 105-96 win over Powerade also last Sunday — and Castro, who tallied 22 points in the import-less Tropang Texters’102-96 victory over B-MEG also last Wednesday.[PR]