GAMES WEDNESDAY
(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)
5 p.m. – Terrafirma vs. NLEX
7:30 p.m. – Meralco vs. Magnolia
AFTER collaring a rebound, reigning eight-time MVP June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel Beer waived off Jericho Cruz, who asked for the ball.
Fajardo played point center for a few seconds against Phoenix before obliging to Cruz’s request just before crossing the half-court line last night.
Pulling away in the second quarter, the Beermen dumped the Fuel Masters 111-92 to return to the winner’s circle in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.
The 6-foot-10 Fajardo finished the play by powering his way inside against the overpowered Phoenix frontline, giving Cruz and the rest of his teammates high-fives and pegging an 85-63 bulge for SMB heading into the fourth canto.
Two main factors worked wonders for the Beermen according to coach Leo Austria—their bench stepping up, and the fire to soothe the pain of their setback the last time out.
“I think it’s very obvious from six to 46 points (second stringers’ output). That’s a lot. We are relying on our bench because our bench players can be starters on other teams. Every player is very important to our team. What is noticeable is that the defense of our team,” Austria said. “Although it was very physical, Phoenix played a very good defensive game against us and we were surprised.
“But because our players were well motivated to win because of our loss to TNT the last time out and there’s no other way for us but to win because if we lost, we will drop to No. 8,” he added.
CJ Perez typified SMB’s desire to atone for an 84-89 loss to TNT last week with a game-high 26 points, on top of five rebounds, and four assists while Don Trollano chimed in 21 markers, five boards, and two dimes.
Fajardo also had a double-double of 20 and 12, and three feeds, with Marcio Lassiter adding 11 points on two three-pointers for the Beermen, who jacked up their mark to 4-2 in the season-ending tilt.
Phoenix failed to keep the gains from a 95-81 victory over the Tropang 5G last May 2 and dropped to 2-4.
The Fuel Masters managed to stay within 29-30 after the opening salvo but SMB pressed the attack and sprinted to a 64-50 edge at the turn.
Trollano banged in two free throws as the Beermen’s advantage swelled to 89-65 at the 10:53 mark of the final stanza from which Phoenix never recovered.
