ANTIPOLO CITY – NorthPort may have failed to sail through the end in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup but the captain who steered its ship to great lengths finally got a feather to his cap.

Arvin Tolentino bagged his first-ever Pocari Sweat Best Player of the Conference award while TNT import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ran away with the Arena Plus Best Import plum at the Ynares Center here Friday, March 21.

Tolentino, the high-scoring forward, bested closest pursuer Calvin Oftana as well as perennial contenders June Mar Fajardo and Robert Bolick and rookie Jordan Heading after amassing a total of 1072 points – 454 of which came from statistics, 564 from the media, and 54 points from the players’ votes, respectively.

The Batang Pier forward has been in contention for the top individual honor the past few conferences but it was only this season where he finally a made huge leap that saw him finish second in the statistical race behind Fajardo.

Tolentino averaged 20.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks on his way to becoming the only second Batang Pier in history to win the BPC.

He is also the first winner from a team outside the San Miguel Corporation umbrella since 2016 or when Christian Standhardinger, then still with NorthPort, also bagged the Governors’ Cup BPC award.

Oftana finished as the runner up with 777 points while Fajardo came in third with 600. Bolick and Heading completed the list with 540 and 419 points, respectively.

Meanwhile, Hollis-Jefferson captured the Best Import plum – his second-straight and third overall.

The resident Tropang Giga import actually swept the award this season after he also bagged the Governors’ Cup edition of the award. He collected 1280 total points – 615 from the statistics, 532 from media, and 133 from the players' votes.

NorthPort import Kadeem Jack was second with 825 points, Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee ended up third with 670 points, and Rain or Shine’s Deon Thompson at fourth with 633.