June Mar Fajardo hit a huge buzzer-beater jumper to rescue San Miguel Beer in a daring 113-112 escape that ended its two-game slump in Group B of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup Thursday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The center found the bottom of the net as time expired to lift the Beermen in the mad dash to the finish line that almost went the erstwhile unbeaten Elasto Painters way when rookie Felix Pangilinan-Lemetti drew a foul from the four-point area with three ticks left.
San Miguel improved to a 3-2 win-loss record tied with NLEX at second to third behind Rain or Shine, which saw its four-game win streak snapped.
Pangilinan-Lemetti calmly sank all his foul shots for the go-ahead, 112-111.
San Miguel, which already used all of its timeouts, found a way to get the ball to Fajardo off a long pass from CJ Perez for the game-winner.
“I had to take the shot in the dying seconds. Good thing we got this win,” Fajardo said.
The eight-time Most Valuable Player finished with a double-double of 27 points and 21 rebounds for the Beermen.
Jordan Adams led San Miguel on offense with 41 points while Perez and Jericho Cruz got 10 each.
The Beermen held an 86-74 lead late in the third period but saw it erased by the Elasto Painters after Keith Datu knotted the score at 105 in the last 1:49 of the game off a jumper.
Fajardo and Adams answered with back-to-back baskets but Pangilinan-Lemetti fired back a trey for the wild wind up.
Pangilinan-Lemetti then drew a foul from Chris Ross to give Rain or Shine its last taste of the lead before yielding the game when Fajardo let loose a jumper that Gian Mamuyac tried to contest to no avail.
Pangilinan-Lemetti scored 28 pointsn and Aaron Fuller had 24 points and 18 rebounds for the Elasto Painters, who missed the services of rookie Caelan Tiongson due to an illness.
Box scores:
San Miguel Beer (113) --- Adams 41, Fajardo 27, Perez 10, Cruz 10, Trollano 9, Lassiter 6, Tautuaa 4, Romeo 4, Rosales 2, Ross 0
Rain or Shine (112) --- Pangilinan-Lemetti 28, Fuller 24, Nocum 21, mamuyac 12, Datu 10, Caracut 6, Clarito 4, Santillan 3, Belga 2, Norwood 2
QUARTERS: 33-28, 55-53, 86-80, 113-112