Fajardo is back to back MVP (photo from: pba.inquirer.net)
Pinamungahan’s June Mar Fajardo capped a banner year at the Philippine Basketball Association by getting multiple awards and a PBA title in the same day. The last day of the 2014-15 PBA season belonged to Fajardo and the San Miguel Beermen. The Beermen brought the brooms at the Smart Araneta Coliseum by beating the Alaska 91-81 en route to 4-0 sweep of their best of 7 2014-2015 Governor’s Cup Finals. Continue reading
June Mar Fajardo and the San Miguel Beermen is the 2nd team eliminated in the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup despite winning their last game of the conference against Globalport Batang Pier, 106-94. San Miguel came up short with the required 30 point margin in order for them to have a chance of getting the 8th and final quarterfinal berth. Fajardo, the reigning MVP, led the Beermen with a 31 point-19 rebound- 4 blocked shots effort.
San Miguel Beer who won the Philippine Cup a month ago crashed backed to earth after a poor start in the second conference. The Beermen is keen on keeping current import Arizona Reid for the 3rd conference. The team will be hoping that the early exit will fuel another championship campaign in the Governor’s Cup.
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL 106 – Fajardo 31, Reid 20, Ross 15, Cabagnot 13, Lutz 11, Santos 9, Kramer 4, Lassiter 3, Reyes 0, Omolon 0, Semerad 0, Tubid 0.
GLOBALPORT 94 – Caracter 18, Romeo 15, Espinas 14, Buenafe 13, Nabong 8, Jensen 8, Semerad 6, Miranda 4, Pinto 4, Taha 2, Ponferrada 2, Isip 0.
Quarters: 21-23, 49-55, 76-72, 106-94
English: Bottle and can of beer San-Miguel selling in the Philippines (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
June Mar Fajardo’s photo with Ateneo Lady Eagles middle hitter Aerieal Patnongon became trending among basketball fans after this post in Twitter:
A rivals.ph article quoted the 6’0″ Patnongon that she and the Cebuano PBA star have been official since March 4. If this romance will end up being a marriage then many sports fans would be looking forward to their babies.
Patnongon and the rest of the Lady Eagles just won their second consecutive UAAP volleyball title after going 16-0 this season. June Mar Fajardo and the San Miguel Beermen won PBA Philippine Cup just weeks ago as well.
What do you think about this interesting pairing?
June Mar Fajardo suffers injury (pa.inquirer.net)
Cebu basketball superstar June Mar Fajardo suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter of San Miguel Beermen‘s game against Barako Bull Energy in the elimination round of 2015 PBA Commissioner’s Cup. Despite the absence of the reigning PBA MVP, the Beermen managed to beat the faltering Barako Bull, 102-91.
Fajardo suffered the ankle injury during the first quarter and he never returned to the game. The Beermen led by Arwind Santos and import Arizona Reid were able to make adjustments to dominate the 2nd period and take a 57-46 advantage during the halftime break.
JC Intal led the Barako Bull fight back in the 3rd canto by scoring 12 points in the quarter and helping the Barako Bull cut down the lead to just four points entering the final period. A telling 12-2 run by San Miguel in the first 6 minutes of the 4th period ended all hopes of Barako Bull of completing comeback. The Beermen cruised to an 11-point victory. It was only the second win of the San Miguel Beermen (2-6) this conference and they have to sweep all 3 remaining games to avoid outright elimination. Barako Bull Energy fell to 4-4 after suffering its second straight setback.
Reid led the charge for SMB with 34 points and 16 rebounds. Arwind Santos also had a double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Alex Cabagnot and Doug Kramer combined for 31 big points and 16 caroms. JC Intal and Solomon both scored 25 points each to topscore for the Barako Bull Energy.
The scores:
SAN MIGUEL (102) – Reid 34, Santos 22, Cabagnot 17, Kramer 14, Lassiter 5, Lutz 3, Tubid 3, Ross 2, Fajardo 2, Reyes 0, Fortuna 0, Semerad 0.
BARAKO BULL (91) – Intal 25, Alabi 25, Marcelo 11, Pascual 10, Garcia 6, Mercado 4, Hubalde 4, Lanete 4, Paredes 2, Lastimosa 0.
Quartercores: 26-23, 57-46, 74-70, 102-91.
Heruela leads Blackwater Elite to its first win
After 1 conference and 4 games, the Blackwater Elite finally nailed its first ever win at the expense of recent Philippine Cup Champions San Miguel Beermen, 80-77. Two former University of Cebu stars were pitted against each other as rookie Brian Heruela facing against the team that is lead by his former Center June Mar Fajardo. Heruela and Fajardo were vital cogs of UC’s dominance at the CESAFI a couple of years ago.
In last night match-up, it was the guard Heruela who produced the better game among the two former UC Webmasters. Heruela started for Blackwater and played 36 minutes of efficient basketball. He scored 11 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, contributed 5 assists, and had 1 steal with only 1 turnover. Fajardo, meanwhile, had his worst game of the season as he only finished with 5 points and 9 rebounds in 18 minutes of play.
With the loss, the San Miguel Beermen fell to the bottom of the standings with a 0-3 record while the Elite improved its record to 1-3.
Cebuano Center June Mar Fajardo is now a champion in the PBA
Finally the MVP has a PBA title. June Mar Fajardo can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the wait for his first PBA title is over as the San Miguel Beermen held on to beat a relentless Alaska Aces in an epic Game 7 of the 2015 PBA Philippine Cup, 80-78.
San Miguel started strong as they dominated the first half with a 48-27 lead. Fajardo already had 15 points and 12 rebounds after the first 24 minutes of play. Alaska led by “The Beast” Calvin Abueva came out on fire from the dugout as they trimmed the lead to 13 in the first 4 minutes of play in the 3rd period. Alaska could have trimmed the lead more if they made their bonus free throws. The combination of Abueva and Exciminiano wrecked havoc but Santos has been steady for San Miguel to break the 10-2 run . Thoss was so effective in the 3rd period as he scored 7 points early in the penultimate period. Alaska trimmed the lead to just 11 after 5 minutes. Alaska breached the 10 point barrier in the 4 minute mark of the 3rd period as Alaska cut the deficit to 8. Alaska continued its furious rally but San Miguel survived the 3rd with a 3 point lead, 62-59.
The 4th quarter was intense as well. Alaska was able to grab the lead as they were more organised team. Exciminiano and Abueva continued their mean streak to lead the Alaska surge. The lead of Alaska even ballooned to 6 at 74-68 with 4:25 left. Lutz, Fajardo and Santos led a rally to take a 1 point lead at 79-78 capped by a momentum-breaking 3 point shot by Arwind Santos. Alaska’s next possession was unsuccessful. Jvee Casio fouled Santos in the next possession but Santos made only one free throw to give the Beermen an 80-78 lead. Abueva missed twice from close range in the next possession but Ronald Tubid made a boo-boo by calling a timeout after a rebound when San Miguel had ran out of timeouts. Unfortunately, Dondo Hontiveros missed the technical free throw barely 6 seconds left. San Miguel had a hard time inbounding and the ball ended up with Fajardo but a jump ball was called between him and Abueva with 2.8 seconds left. Abueva won the jump as the ball went to Thoss who passed to Casio who missed the final shot for the win. It was a classic ending to classic series that have to be decided in the final seconds.
Arwind Santos was adjudged the best player of Game 7 with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. He was also voted as the Finals MVP by the PBA Press Corps. It was an amazing game as Alaska has shown their unbelievable comeback ability. They deserved to win a title but San Miguel was just able to execute in the final seconds. The Aces will definitely be a team to watch this season. The Beermen now will have a chance to duplicate their sister team’s exploits last year. The Beermen have a very formidable line-up and they have the strongest starting five in the league. They also got a winner coach finally in Leo Austria. There is a big chance that SMB will once again dominate the league after years of fruitless campaigns.
San Miguel 62 Alaska 59
San Miguel had a 21 point lead after the first half. It took Alaska just one quarter to wipe that lead off. Fajardo who had 15 points in the first half was held to 2 points in 12 minutes of play. Calvin Abueva and Sonny Thoss set the tone for the Aces. The Aces set the tempo for the 12 minutes with multiple steals, foul drawing drives, and one plays, and long shots. It was all Alaska and Coach Alex Compton have made wonderful adjustments once again. Alaska scored 32 points to San Miguel’s 14. The Aces more than doubled their first half score. Let’s see if the Aces can keep up the energy and pull an exciting come from behind victory.
San Miguel 48 Alaska 27
The second quarter started with San Miguel with a 21-12 lead. Fajardo scored in the first possession of the quarter to give San Miguel its first double digit lead. Sonny Thoss answered in the other end. Chris Lutz was able to get some free throws after getting the offensive rebound and being fouled in his subsequent attempt. He made both free throws to bring the lead to 11 once again. Lutz exploited the mismatch by dominating the boards against Jvee Casio to give SMB another second chance point. Fajardo assisted Ronal Tubid in the next possession to extend the lead to 15. Thoss scored a lone free throw in the other end. Fajardo responds with a nifty fadeaway after being fouled by Thoss in the previous play. Casio scored for Alaska in the other end but Tubid responded with a difficult shot. Casio scores again with a drive then Eman shoved Tubid which force June Mar Fajardo to retaliate. After the smoked cleared, Eman and Fajardo were slapped with technical fouls for second motion. June Mar got double digits in the next play. After a miss by Alaska, Fajardo scores again via an offensive rebound by the Cebuano giant. Cyrus Baguio finally breaks the bad stretch for Alaska but Cabagnot scored in the other end. Fajardo calls a timeout in after getting a rebound and being hounded by 2 Aces. Arwind booms a triple of a time out! Menk hit a wide open 17-footer. Alaska steals after Fajardo made an offensive rebound. Abuja is on the line but went o for 2. Fajardo is dominating the boards. Fajardo with another offensive rebound. He hits 1 of 2 to give SMB it’s first 20 point lead in the game. June Mar scores from the inside in the next SMB possession. Tubid steals. Banchero scores but Tubid answers with a 3. Abueva got a score off an offensive rebound. Arwind Santos blocks Abueva to end the half. The Beermen outscored the Aces 27-15 in the second period.
The main factors of the first half are REBOUNDING and outside shooting. San Miguel got multiple possessions and second chance points as they dominated the boards in both ends. Fajardo and Lutz had several offensive rebounds which resulted to scores. San Miguel has also been hitting its outside shots led by Arwind Santos who made 4 three-point shots in the half. June Mar Fajardo dominated the low post while the snipers of San Miguel has hit 7 three point baskets.
The first half belonged to San Miguel and it is expected that the Aces will make several adjustments. They have shown their ability to launch a comeback throughout the season so let’s see if they can pull off another magical rally in Game 7. San Miguel has matched the energy and the intensity of the Aces which made it difficult for Alaska to play their usual game. Alaska must start hitting their long range shots and they should find a way to crash the boards and prevent June Mar to singlehandedly beat them.
San Miguel 21 Alaska 12
Alaska started with an unusual 3 guard combinations with Banchero, Casio, and Baguio. San Miguel has their usual starting 5. Calvin Abueva was not in the starting 5. Alaska is trying goad San Miguel to rely on outside shots. It was effective in the first part of the game but eventually Alex Cabagnot then Arwind Santos hit 3 point shots. Arwind Santos dominated the scoring as he made several 3-pointers owing to the space given to the Beermen outside shooters by the Aces defenders. Calvin Abueva entered in the middle of the quarter and he immediately had an impact. He scored, assisted, rebounded and stole the ball. The first quarter was intense but in the end it was won by the San Miguel Beermen with its outside sniping. Santos made a trio of 3 pointers in the quarter which is equal to San Miguel’s lead.
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