Beermen keeping hopes alive

June Mar Fajardo isn’t surprised that Meralco is putting up a gallant stand in its bid to dethrone San Miguel in their best-of-seven title series in the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup.

“It’s a long series. We are not out yet and we have a chance to bounce back,” Fajardo said after the Beermen absorbed a stinging 92-88 loss in Game 5 on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Bolts are now on the brink of winning its first league title and they can do just that Sunday.

Despite racking up massive numbers of 38 points and 18 rebounds, the seven-time Most Valuable Player awardee insists it was their passing woes that contributed to their downfall.

“Just like in our previous losses, we would lose whenever we had fewer assists. We had good looks but we weren’t just able to convert them. All of us struggled not just CJ (Perez).”

In the last 15 years, San Miguel won three of the four finals despite being down 2-3.

For Chris Ross, he feels that he has Game 6 all figured out as the Beermen aims to extend the championship to a kill-or-be-killed Game 7 at the Big Dome.

“Every time we are in a championship, our goal is to win. We’re here and we don’t want to let it slide,” Ross said.

“As long as we’re in the championship, we’ll try to win it.”