MANILA, Philippines – Jayson Castro saved the best for last in the semifinals of the PBA Philippine Cup.

Castro came up big as TNT punched its finals ticket following a six-game semifinals conquest of Magnolia to be adjudged the PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period of August 10 to 14.

Living up to his billing as one of the best closers in the league, Castro netted a conference-high 26 points to lead the Tropang Giga to an 87-74 win in Game 6 of the best-of-seven affair.

He shot a healthy 10-of-13 from the field and dashed the Hotshots’ hopes of extending the series by draining the dagger three-pointer that ignited the win-clinching 10-2 run.

In three games the past week, the 36-year-old guard averaged 17.7 points on a staggering 73% clip on top of 3.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds to become the first back-to-back and two-time winner of the weekly citation this conference.

Castro also earned the Player of the Week honors last week after draining the game-winning triple that allowed TNT to seize a 2-1 series lead.

But ever the team player, Castro attributed his stellar play to the attention Tropang Giga star Mikey Williams draws.

“Everyone is focused on Mikey, so I need to help on both ends,” Castro said in a mix of Filipino and English.

“As a point guard, I need to set my teammates up. For me, my individual offense only comes second. What is important to me is I’m able to orchestrate our team offense.”

Castro bested teammates Poy Erram and Roger Pogoy and the Meralco quartet of Chris Newsome, Raymond Almazan, Cliff Hodge, and Allein Maliksi for the award given by the men and women regularly covering the PBA beat. – Rappler.com