Fajardo overcomes fatigue to help Beermen take 2-0 lead

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

Playing almost 50 minutes in San Miguel’s grueling 104-102 overtime victory against Ginebra in Game 2 in the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals, June Mar Fajardo admits that there were times in the game when fatigue got the better of him.

“It’s really tiring because we’re playing hard on offense and defense,” he said in Filipino.

That exhaustion was evident in the crucial stages of the game that could’ve caused the Beermen the victory.

Fajardo missed his close attempts late in regulation, but was fortunate to have Arwind Santos get the ball from the top of the arc and drill the game-tying trey to force OT.

Santos 3! 13.4 left. 95-all. #PBA2018 pic.twitter.com/Lh8kzOeadx

— Randolph B. Leongson (@RLeongsonINQ) March 11, 2018

He had another costly miss in the waning seconds of the game. Good thing for San Miguel was that Marcio Lassiter was there for the followup to win the game with 3.2 seconds to spare.

Here’s that game-winning play! #PBA2018 pic.twitter.com/UVX34O0BVd

— Randolph B. Leongson (@RLeongsonINQ) March 11, 2018

“I’m thankful to my teammates,” said Fajardo, who had no second thoughts defraying the credit to his San Miguel peers. “I missed a lot of shots, but they were there for me. First it was Arwind, and then Marcio. They both made the big plays for us and I’m thankful that we got the win.”

Fajardo couldn’t care any less for his individual numbers, knowing that his 33-point, 19 rebound and 2-block performance would have been moot had the Beermen failed to pull off the victory.

But for the Cebuano giant, the Game 2 comeback from 15 points down is a good testament to how San Miguel’s continuous desire to win never wavers despite having won multiple championships the last three years.

“We need to fight until the end. It will be hard for us had the series gone 1-1 because the momentum will be on their side. And Ginebra played really well. But they had their lapses and we had ours, and luckily, we were able to maximize on their lapses late,” he said.

And the same will be the case for Game 3 on Tuesday at Mall of Asia Arena as the Beermen aim to close in on a return trip to the Finals.

“We expect them to give their best next game because we know how hard it is to fight back from 0-3. But we have the same mentality, that we want to win Game 3 to increase our chances to advance to the finals,” he said. “We just have to be ready next game.”