Abueva sparkles; Fajardo crumbles

CALVIN Abueva almost single-handedly lifted Alaska to the top of the Oppo PBA Commissioner’s Cup eliminations a day after San Miguel Beer blew a similar drive when June Mar Fajardo’s brittle right knee gave way in a game against Rain or Shine Friday.

Alaska’s bundle of energy and hustle scattered seven of a career-high 29 points while adding an assist in a 12-6 run in the last five minutes that boosted the Aces past the gutsy GlobalPort Batang Pier, 103-101. Abueva also finished with 14 rebounds despite a twisted right ankle resulting from a never-say-die dive for a loose ball going out of bounds.

It was the fifth straight win in six games for Alaska, the losing finalist in the last two conferences, which trailed GlobalPort by as many as 15 points before finally forging ahead midway in the last period.

New GlobalPort import Shawn Taggart came up with a game-high 36 points and 16 rebounds but the absence of injured backcourt aces Terrence Romeo and Stanley Pringle eventually doomed the Batang Pier, who ended up at the cellar at 2-5.

The Elasto Painters also paraded a new reinforcement in Mo Charlo, who at first proved helpless when the Beermen, hoping to stay high up in the standings with a fourth consecutive win, stormed to a 32-14 lead after the first quarter with Tyler Wilkerson already matching the output of Rain or Shine in the first 12 minutes of the game.

But disaster fell on SMB when Fajardo stepped on the foot of Wilkerson as the Beermen braced for an ROS offensive with seven minutes left in the second quarter. Fajardo slumped to the floor clutching his knee in pain even as memories of the same incident that haunted the Beermen in the recent Philippine Cup came back.

The two-time Most Valuable Player recovered from the injury just in time to help the Beermen pull off a record four-game sweep of the Aces in the best-of-seven title playoffs from 0-3.

But this time, he’s out of the game for good and the absence of the 6-foot-10 SMB slotman gave the Painters all the room to mount a rally. They wrested the lead at the half, 46-44, and outscored the Beermen down the stretch for a 108-105 victory.

“We got a big break with June Mar injuring himself or accidentally by a teammate. I don’t know exactly what happened, but that’s the biggest break for us,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao. He also commended the fine defensive work by Charlo, who even outscored Wilkerson, 35-33, as Rain or Shine improved to 3-3 behind the 3-2 mark of the Beermen.

The NLEX Road Warriors earlier paved the way for Alaska’s surge to the top by inflicting a second straight loss on the erstwhile leader Meralco Bolts, 104-99. NLEX also nailed a third win in six games while duplicating last year’s conquest of Meralco in its first game after also losing its five-game streak to San Miguel.

However, the Bolts, at 5-2, seemed assured of joining the eight-team quarterfinal playoffs behind the Aces with a mad scramble for the remaining six qualifying slots assured.