June Mar Fajardo expressed regret after missing a close shot that could have turned the tides of the San Miguel Beermen’s 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup clash with long-time rivals TNT on Wednesday night.
The reigning five-time MVP caught his own missed free throw, then tried to clean it up with a one-hander over the defense of the KaTropa frontcourt. Surprisingly, though, he missed.
Had he made that shot, the Beermen would have gotten a 111-110 lead. Instead, KJ McDaniels buried both of his freebies to widen TNT’s lead to three.
San Miguel eventually lost, 109-114, ending its elimination round campaign on a losing note.
“Sayang, sayang. Na-miss ko ‘yung posible sana na game-winning shot. Pero ganoon talaga. Nakakalungkot,” lamented Fajardo, who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat.
The Beermen will still head into the quarterfinals despite the loss. But they enter the said round as the fifth seed, and are at a twice-to-beat disadvantage versus the fourth-ranked Ginebra.
This will be a challenge for San Miguel, especially with its Grand Slam bid. After all, it was the Barangay who once spoiled its Triple Crown hopes back in 2017 in the Governors’ Cup quarters.
SMB are also dealing with the indefinite suspension of Dez Wells, Kelly Nabong, Arwind Santos, and Ronald Tubid following a fight during practice.
For the soft-spoken Cebuano cager, these are trials for the team, and he hopes that the rest of the Beermen could remain positive now that the playoffs is set to begin on Sunday.
“Trials lang ito para sa amin. Dito mate-test ‘yung character namin. Hindi pa naman kami out, so kailangan maging positive lang kami sa mga nangyari,” the 6-foot-10 Fajardo said.
“Positive lang kami sa game, positive ‘yung approach namin sa Sunday.”
