SMB keeps Philippine Cup crown, claims 31st title overall

June Mar Fajardo came up with a masterful double-double to fuel San Miguel Beer to back-to-back championships after finishing off TNT, 92-77, in Game 6 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Season 50 Philippine Cup finals Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The nine-time Most Valuable Player submitted 29 points and pulled down 23 rebounds for his fourth 20-20 game of the conference with two assists, two steals and one block, highlighting the Beermen’s 31^st title overall.

San Miguel closed the all-Filipino conference best-of-seven series, 4-2, taking the last two matches to break a deadlock after the first four games.

The Beermen used a decisive 12-0 run that bridged from the end of the third period and into the early going of the final canto to restore order after squandering a 21-point lead and going down by two.

CJ Perez added 19 markers, Game 5 hero Rodney Brondial had 15 points and 13 boards while Marcio Lassiter got 13 markers for the Beermen.

San Miguel had a scare late in the third quarter when Jordan Heading knocked down a corner triple with 1:58 left to give the Tropang 5G their first taste of the lead, 68-66. The Beermen countered with 12 straight points for a 78-68 cushion after a Fajardo bucket.  

TNT cut it down to five only for San Miguel to create another huge gap, 89-73, from 11 unanswered return fire.  

The Beermen came out with all guns blazing and focused on closing out the series as they raced to a 12-0 advantage to start the ballgame.

San Miguel built its biggest lead at 26-5 off a Rodney Brondial basket with 2:41 left in the opening period.

TNT, however, turned it into a ballgame with a huge 28-9 rally to breathe down the Beermen’s necks, 34-33, off a Kelly Williams trey.

The Beermen fired back with a run of their own to enter the half with a 49-39 advantage.

Calvin Oftana had 18 points, Heading finished with 14 while Poy Erram got 11 points for the Tropang 5G, who played sans RR Pogoy and fell to San Miguel in the same number of games as last season's finals edition.