Fajardo flexes muscles as Beermen sweep Texters

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Beer, making good use of its vast arsenal, pummeled Talk n Text from all over the floor to hack out a 100-87 victory and a rare 4-0 semifinal sweep that handed the Beermen the first slot in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the Mall of Asia Arena Friday night.

Reigning league MVP Junmar Fajardo powered his way to 28 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and two blocks with four other Beermen delivering big numbers in a balanced game giving SMB a crack at a fifth all-Filipino crown and 20th crown overall.

With Fajardo asserting himself right away, the Beermen seized control from the start and dominated the Texters yet again to advance to the best-of-seven finals versus the winner of the other semis duel between Rain or Shine and Alaska Milk.

The Elasto Painters and the Aces break the 2-2 standoff in their own semis faceoff at 5 p.m. Saturday also at the MOA Arena.

The Aces play the pivotal game with an intact lineup as Calvin Abueva escaped suspension and was barely fined P20,000 for his punching foul on Rain or Shine guard Jonathan Uyloan towards the end of Game Four.

“We’ve made the finals. We’ll increase the intensity of our game even more. We’ll play even better,” said Fajardo who went 12-of-17 from the field and 4-of-6 from the stripe to match his career second-best output.

The 6-foot-10 behemoth turned the ball over nine times but more than made up for that with his explosive offense.

San Miguel came through with a first-ever 4-0 playoffs sweep in franchise history with big help from Chris Lutz, Alex Cabagnot, Arwind Santos and Ronald Tubid with their double-digit outputs.

“The chemistry of the team was evident in this game,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

“I didn’t expect this result before the series. I have to give it to the guys who worked hard for it. I’m just here to give some motivation. They did it,” Austria also said.

Fajardo had piled up double-double numbers by the third period that ended with San Miguel sitting on a 73-57 cushion.

Tubid parlayed an error by Ryan Reyes to a breakaway basket then Lassiter fired away a buzzer-beater triple to stretch their lead to 16 at the end of the third.

The SMB second group provided a big push in the second quarter with Tubid,  Cabagnot and Lassiter combining for 15 points as the Beermen padded a four-point lead to 11 at 49-38 at the turn.

Fajardo scored the game’s first five points on a three-point play and a short jumper and the Beermen dominated the first half despite 12 turnovers as against the Texters’ six.

San Miguel banked on a balanced offense as Fajardo, Cabagnot, Lutz and Tubid put in at least seven point each. Santos, Lassiter, Rico Maierhofer, Chris Ross and Nelbert Omolon also scored for the Beermen in the first 24 minutes of play.

On the other hand, only Matt Ganuelas-Rosser scored more than five points for TNT in the first half.