STRONG START: Beermen repulse Elasto Painters in series opener
‘I’m satisfied with our game as a team, but we had too many turnovers that we need to minimize for us to not get into this situation.’
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Daily Tribune‘I’m satisfied with our game as a team, but we had too many turnovers that we need to minimize for us to not get into this situation.’
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There is simply no stopping June Mar Fajardo from banging in 23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in San Miguel’s 101-98 victory over Rain or Shine in the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Photograph COURTESY OF PBA
San Miguel Beer weathered a late fourth quarter surge by Rain or Shine to post a 101-98 win in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup semifinals series Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The defending champions dodged the bullet in the last four seconds of the match when Andrei Caracut missed a potential game-tying triple as the Beermen drew first blood.
Game 2 is on Sunday at the same venue.
June Mar Fajardo posted his 12th double-double in the all-Filipino Conference with 23 points and 11 rebounds as the seven-time Most Valuable Player pounded the ball from the inside with an eight-of-11 field goal clip.
The Cebuano big man also had five assists, three blocks and a steal in almost 38 minutes of action.
San Miguel had a hard time shaking off the pesky Elasto Painters, who kept the game close until the last moments of the game.
CJ Perez gave the Beermen a 99-91 lead with 3:33 left in the payoff period only to see Rain or Shine youngsters Gian Mamuyac, Jhonard Clarito and Andrei Caracut engineer a 7-1 rally to close the gap to three with just 31 seconds left.
Don Trollano then airballed a potential dagger trey as the Elasto Painters got one last chance to knot the game and force an extension.
San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent was relieved his squad survived a scare from a team it had defeated eight straight times since 2022 that spans six conferences.
He, however, rued the Beermen’s 16 turnovers which the Elasto Painters converted into 14 turnover points.
“I’m satisfied with our game as a team, but we had too many turnovers that we need to minimize for us to not get into this situation,” Gallent said.
“This is a running team. As much as possible they want you to commit turnovers and they want you to make bad shots, that’s their way of running the game. If we do that then we won’t have a chance defending them. We can’t give them easy baskets or we will have a hard time.”
Trollano had 17 points and six rebounds, Marcio Lassiter scored 16 behind a crisp four-of-six three-point shooting while Terrence Romeo and Perez added 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Beermen.
Rain or Shine put up a gallant stand briefly and held the lead midway through the third quarter only to surrender the advantage to play catchup.
Mamuyac fired 20 points and pulled down seven rebounds while Beau Belga woke up from a scoring slump to finish with 17 points built on four-of-eight three-point shooting for the Elasto Painters, who are on their first semis appearance in five seasons.
Clarito and Santi Santillan added 13 points each for Rain or Shine.
