June Mar Fajardo played inspired basketball from start to finish to enable San Miguel to get back on track and equalize at 2-2 in its race-to-four contest for the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup crown against Meralco on Wednesday, June 12.
June Mar Fajardo recovered his form, displaying his dominance once again as San Miguel held off Meralco, 111-101, in Game 4 to level their best-of-seven PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, June 12.
Fajardo, who received his 10th Best Player of the Conference trophy just before tipoff, churned out a season-high 28 points and collared 13 rebounds to also log his 13th straight double-double.
[RELATED STORY: PBA: June Mar Fajardo cops 10th BPC award]
The 6-foot-10 behemoth atoned for a subpar performance in the Beermen's Game 3 loss Sunday, June 9, where he was limited to just 12 points and fumbled with seven turnovers.
His biggest basket came in the 1:47 mark of the fourth period which gave the Beermen a comfortable 106-97 advantage.
San Miguel's June Mar Fajardo is Best Player of the Conference for the 10th time. | Photo (c) Sherwin Vardeleon
[ALSO READ: Spoiler Alert: Meralco deals San Miguel heartbreaks in past PBA crucial battles]
CJ Perez, who finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, six assits, a steal, and a block, put the finishing touches to the victory with back-to-back baskets.
Marcio Lassiter also came up big, firing 18 points on four triples, including a left corner triple with 4:22 left on the clock for a nine-point San Miguel lead, 97-88.
He is now seven triples away from dislodging Allan Caidic at no. 2 in the all-time three-pointers made list. Caidic has 1242 treys to his name.
San Miguel coach Jorge Gallent is pleased his team leaned on trust to bag the much-needed win.
"It's just the mindset of the players to trust one another and to share the ball. That's the philosophy," said Gallent, whose team made 20 assists.
The win foiled Chris Newsome's new career-high of 40 points he laced with six rebounds and four assists.
Chris Banchero also chipped in 21 points for the Bolts, while Cliff Hodge had 17 points and 10 boards.
The Scores:
SAN MIGUEL 111– Fajardo 28, Perez 22, Lassiter 18, Tautuaa 9, Trollano 8, Manuel 8, Romeo 7, Ross 6, Cruz 5, Brondial 0, Teng 0
MERALCO 101– Newsome 40, banchero 21, Hodge 17, Maliksi 9, Quinto 6, Bates 4, Almazan 2, Rios 2, Caram 0, Torres 0
Quarterscores: 29-22, 51-40, 82-74, 111-101