Junemar Fajardo has showed once again why he is the king of Philippine basketball.
Fajardo made 35 points and 11 rebounds as he led the San Miguel Beermen to a win over the Mahindra Enforcers, 102-86, in the Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup 2015-16. The result was San Miguel’s fifth win in a row, helping them in their chase for an outright berth in the semi-finals. On the other hand, Mahindra suffered their sixth loss this season but will still be able to qualify for a playoff slot.
Both teams endured a slow start to the game, as Mahindra led 7-12. San Miguel upped the ante via a jumper from Chris Lutz and two free throws from Fajardo which had them trailing by one point. In the end, the two teams finished the first quarter tied at 14-14.
San Miguel finally took the lead in the second quarter, when Ronald Tubid stole and drove to the basket, while a Fajardo layup gave the Beermen a 20-16 edge over Mahindra. Karl Dehesa responded for Mahindra with a three, and a KG Canaleta basket leveled the scores at 22-apiece.
Fajardo later made two freebies to give the lead back to San Miguel at 28-26. Later, Tubid once again broke away in transition to break the deadlock anew at 35-33. Fajardo’s slam then put some separation between San Miguel and Mahindra at four points. Just in the nick of time, Brian Heruela scored a jumper to end the first half in San Miguel’s favor at 39-33.
Tubid stretched San Miguel’s lead to 41-33 at the start of the third quarter, which was then extended to 45-35 courtesy of a jumper from Lutz. Tubid and Fajardo again scored consecutive points to increase San Miguel’s lead to 56-39. Another breakaway from the Beermen allowed Fajardo to attack the rim and reward San Miguel with a 62-42 edge over Mahindra. San Miguel concluded the third quarter with a 71-52 advantage above Mahindra.
Arwind Santos finally scored in the game, as his two freebies gave San Miguel some leeway at 79-62 early in the fourth quarter. Santos later sunk two threes to increase San Miguel’s edge over Ginebra at 91-70. San Miguel eventually won the game
San Miguel improved to a 7-1 record, one game over top teams Alaska Aces and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, in the quest to clinch a spot in the semi-finals. In contrast, Mahindra were relegated to 2-6 and are tied with Purefoods Star Hotshots
After Fajardo, Heruela scored at most points for San Miguel at 14, while Aldrech Ramos topscored for Mahindra at 13 markers.
Up next for San Miguel are the NLEX Road Warriors on December 9, 2015 (Wednesday, 7:00PM) at the Cuneta Astrodome. As for Mahindra, they play on December 6, 2015 (Sunday, 3:00PM) at the Smart Araneta Coliseum against fellow strugglers Purefoods, in what is now a pivotal game for the two squads.
The Scores:
San Miguel (102) – Fajardo 35, Heruela 14, Santos 11, Tubid 11, Reyes 10, Lutz 8, Omolon 6, Cabagnot 3, Ross 3, Mabulac 1.
Mahindra (86) – Ramos 13, Canaleta 12, Guinto 12, Hubalde 9, Dehesa 8, Pascual 8, Revilla 8, Webb 8, Yee 4, Alvarez 2, DiGregorio 2.
Quarterscores: 14-14, 39-33, 71-52, 102-86.
