MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Beer titan June Mar Fajardo got his career milestone.
And the Beermen made sure Kraken’s big night ended in victory – in epic come-from-behind fashion at that.
As Fajardo joined the PBA’s elite 10,000-point scorers’ club, the Beermen battled back from 20 down to secure a 135-133 steal over NLEX in their marque Group A duel in the Governors’ Cup last night at Ynares Center Antipolo.
The victory gave SMB a 9-3 win-loss record at the end of group play – level with the Road Warriors. But after the tiebreak, it was NLEX that wound up with the No. 1 seeding going to the crossover quarterfinals, thanks to its superior quotient on account of its 14-point romp (110-96) versus Fajardo and Co. back in the first round.
JMF breached the 10K point barrier at the 2:21 mark of the opening period on his way to 26 that went with 10 rebounds and three blocks.
But there’s one problem: the Road Warriors were threatening to blow them out, holding a 116-96 tear early in the fourth.
Then the proud Beermen went to work. They went on a furious rampage to turn the game around, with George King putting the finishing touches with an inside stab with 5.2 seconds left.
“Isang karangalan na mapabilang ako sa 10k club. Credit ‘yun sa teammates ko at coaching staff, hindi ko makukuha ‘yun kung hindi dahil sa kanila,” said Fajardo, who became only the 19th player in history to achieve the feat.
More important for him, though, was the W that gave SMB positive vibes heading into the best-of-five quarters against the No. 3 seeds of Group B.
“Masaya ako nakuha namin goal namin sa elims, ‘yung top 2,” he said.
King dropped 10 of his team-high 27 in the fourth, where he joined forces with Don Trollano in fuelling San Miguel’s telling 39-21 closing barrage. Trollano hit 17 of his 23 in the windup.
The victorious Beermen fell short of the required 15-point winning margin to wrest the top seed from the Road Warriors via tiebreak. But coach Leo Austria isn’t complaining.
“Going to the game we didn’t care kung No. 1 or No. 2 kame. We’re here to play to win,” he said.
SMB spoiled the 43-point, six-block outing of NLEX import Deonte Burton.