San Miguel fends off Talk N’ Text, takes 2-0 advantage

Marcio Lassiter of San Miguel is harassed Danny Seigle and Kelly Williams of Talk N’ Text PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines – Getting generous in their charities, the San Miguel Beermen upended the Talk N’ Text Tropang Texters, 87-81, Sunday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena to take a 2-0 series lead in their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals matchup.

Crucial time belonged to 2014 Most Valuable Player Junemar Fajardo as the San Miguel big man went perfect from the line to seal Game 2 for the Beermen.

Fajardo scored off a graceful spin move in the post to give San Miguel a 78-72 lead with 5:15 remaining.

Beermen head coach Leo Austria said they expected Talk N’ Text to pester Fajardo and he was glad that his giant of a center responded well.

“We anticipated that they would stop Junemar,” Austria said. “Junemar may have not dominated the field but he was able to hit his free throws and dish out assists.”

Fajardo went to the line 11 times and 11 times the ball swished through the net.

With Larry Fonacier hitting a long two-pointer from the right wing inching Talk N’ Text closer, 82-81, Fajardo would calmly stick four free-throws to put the boards at 86-81 with 37.3 remaining.

Austria added that the rest of the team would collapse on Fajardo and they knew how to respond to the defensive scheme.

“The rest of the team knew that it would happen, I’m glad that the composure was there and they did their business,” Austria said.

“I’m happy to see Junemar at the end of the quarter.”

Returning Beerman Alex Cabagnot led the scoring for San Miguel with 21 points with Fajardo adding 15 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks.

Chris Lutz chipped in 14 points with Arwind Santos contributing 10 points and seven boards.

Jayson Castro led all scorers with 26 points but their free throws threw them off as they only shot 50 percent from the line compared to San Miguel’s 89 percent.

Jay Washington, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser and Ranidel de Ocampo added 17, 11 and 10 points respectively.

Box scores:

SAN MIGUEL 87- Cabagnot 21, Fajardo 15, Lutz 14, Santos 10, Lassiter 8, Tubid 7, Fortuna 5, Pascual 3, Maierhofer 2, Ross 2, Kramer 0, Omolon 0, Chua 0, Semerad 0.

TALK N’ TEXT 81- Castro 26, Washington 17, Rosser 11, De Ocampo 10, Carey 6, Fonacier 4, Aban 3, Williams 2, Seigle 2, Alapag 0, Alas 0, Reyes R.J. 0, Reyes R. 0, Espiritu 0.