Considered as two of the league’s premiere power forwards, Talk ’N Text’s Ranidel de Ocampo and San Miguel Beer’s Anthony Jay Washington are in a tight battle for the Best Player of the Conference in the PBA Fiesta Cup.

Considered as two of the league’s premiere power forwards, Talk ’N Text’s Ranidel de Ocampo and San Miguel Beer’s Anthony Jay Washington are in a tight battle for the Best Player of the Conference in the PBA Fiesta Cup.

The 6-foot-5 De Ocampo still leads all six official contenders for the BPC award with an average of 29.5 Statistical Points (SPs) through Game 6 of the import-laden best-of-seven semifinals against Alaska.

De Ocampo, recipient of the first PBA Pres Corps’ Classification Top Performer award, averages 15.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists this conference.

The seven-game series between the Tropang Texters and the Aces are tied at 3-all with Game 7 being played at presstime at the Araneta Coliseum.

Waiting in the best-of-seven championship round is defending champion San Miguel, which ousted sister company B-Meg Derby Ace in their Final Four showdown, 4-2, for their 31st Finals stint.

Game 1 of the Finals is set Friday at the Bid Dome.

The 6-foot-7 Washington, on the other hand, has 29.4 SPs while averaging 15.8 points, seven rebounds and 1.9 assists.

Washington played a key role in San Miguel’s semifinal victory against B-Meg, tallying 18 points and 13 boards in a 91-83 win in Game 6 last Sunday.

Also in contention for the BPC award are guard Gary David of Coca-Cola (29.2 SPs), TNT playmaker Jimmy Alapag (28.9 SPs), James Yap of B-Meg (28.8 SPs) and Alaska point guard LA Tenorio (25.5 SPs).

The sweet-shooting 6-foot-3 Yap is eyeing his second straight BPC award after winning it during the Philippine Cup, where he led the Purefoods Giants to the championship with a sweep over Alaska.

Aside from the BPC, the 2005 PBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Yap also took the Finals MVP trophy in the all-Filipino conference.

In the Fiesta Cup, he averaged 18.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and two assists.