Hobbled by foul trouble, Fajardo still leads SMB over ROS

MANILA, Philippines — Not even a case of foul trouble could slow June Mar Fajardo down.

Playing with four fouls, Fajardo scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and the Beermen held off the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to give their new head coach Leo Austria an 87-79 win in his debut Tuesday night in the 2015 PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Fajardo hit 6-of-7 from the field and also grabbed 10 rebounds in just close to 24 minutes of play.

Arwind Santos also posted a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds with most of his points coming on open jumpers with Rain or Shine’s defense sucked in by the reigning MVP Fajardo.

“This is my first game with San Miguel and we won and I think this will be a great motivation for me and the players because we beat a big team in Rain or Shine,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria. “I hope this will be a good start for us.”

“I think it was a blessing in disguise because in the fourth quarter he (Fajardo) was fresh when he came in and we have to take advantage of June Mar,” Austria said.

Raymond Almazan led the Painters in scoring and rebounding with 12 points and 11 boards.

Rain or Shine never led but found itself in striking distance late with Jeff Chan’s 3-pointer cutting San Miguel Beer’s lead down to just two, 81-79, with still three minutes left.

The Beermen withstood the Painters’ last push with Santos hitting a jump shot, Chris Lutz scoring on a drive and Marcio Lassiter and Fajardo making their attempts at the free throw line down the stretch.