San Miguel Beer finally entered the semifinals after eliminating Converge, 109-105, in Game 5 of the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup quarterfinals at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City on Sunday evening.
June Mar Fajardo had a monster night, scoring 40 points and grabbing 24 rebounds to lead the Beermen to a semifinals clash against crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Wednesday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City, with tip-off at 5 p.m.
Holding onto a slim 106-105 lead with one minute and 38 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, EJ Anosike and Fajardo made three of San Miguel’s six free throws.
The Beermen then tightened their defense, forcing Jalen Jones into a turnover in the game's dying seconds to secure the win.
“We just gave him more touches because he is a good post player. We just took advantage of that and know when June Mar gets doubled, he is a great passer,” San Miguel head coach Jorge Gallent said.
“We just went to him and he decided what to do inside the court.”
Import EJ Anosike also recorded a double-double for the Beermen with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while CJ Perez was close to a double-double, scoring 10 points and dishing out nine assists.
Jones finished with a double-double of 29 points and 17 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the FiberXers bowed out of contention.