Rain or Shine’s Beau Belga and San Miguel Beermen’s June Mar Fajardo during a game. in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—San Miguel escaped Rain or Shine in Game 1 of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals thanks to its successful game plan of dousing red-hot Beau Belga with freezing defense.
At Mall of Asia Arena on Friday, the Beermen saw themselves go up against a gritty Elasto Painters team led by Belga and his stellar shooting from beyond the arc.
Before San Miguel’s 101-98 victory though, it had to withstand a third quarter surge led by one of Rain or Shine’s veterans.
READ: PBA: San Miguel fends off Rain or Shine to open semis series
“It was so hard because Beau really shoots. He really has a high percentage in the three-point area so I needed to extend my defense. But, if I do extend my defense and he misses, there’ll be no rebounder,” said June Mar Fajardo in Filipino.
“Thankfully, my teammates were there and they helped me.”
Fajardo finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds to outplay Belga in a gargantuan matchup in the paint. Belga was no pushover either, finishing with 17 points and seven rebounds.
READ: PBA: Beau Belga confident ‘tables will turn’ for Rain or Shine
The long time coach Yeng Guiao-player even exploded in the third quarter with three buckets from beyond the arc which gave the reigning All-Filipino kings all sorts of problems.
However, the Beermen showed their experience in taking down a player with plenty of momentum to hang on for the win.
In the final period, San Miguel defended Belga heavily to limit him to only three points when it mattered most while also making him commit five fouls in the process.
“That was the game plan, get the ball to June Mar and make their big guys get into foul trouble. It’s a team that likes to shoot threes. June Mar has to extend his defense on those big shooters,” explained coach Jorge Gallent
“It’s very hard [defending Belga] because he’s a big man that can shoot, drive, basically everything. We wanted June Mar in because he mostly got Beau. We went to June Mar so he (Belga) gets into foul trouble so coach Yeng could bring him out of the game.”