PBA: June Mar Fajardo savors tied series with Best Player award as bonus

June Mar Fajardo takes home the PBA Philippine Cup Best Player of the Conference Award for San Miguel Beermen ahead of Finals Game 4–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Taking home the Best Player of the Conference Award was a sweet accolade to get but tying the PBA Philippine Cup Finals series at 2-2 is even sweeter, at least according to June Mar Fajardo.

After winning the BPC award for a historic 10th time on Wednesday, Fajardo capped off his night by helping San Miguel Beer defeat Meralco, 111-101, in the highest-scoring game of the series thus far.

But while having new hardware in the closet is a clear motivator, Fajardo said he was more motivated by the fact that his Beermen was down in the series before Gamre 4.

READ: PBA: June Mar Fajardo wins 10th Best Player of Conference award

“I was motivated because we were down by one game in this series. The BPC [award] is just a bonus,” said Fajardo in Filipino. “I’m happy to get the BPC but [I give] credits to my teammates because I wouldn’t get that if it wasn’t for them.”

Fajardo proved why he was the All-Filipino Conference’s top player with another sensational double-double with 28 points and 13 rebounds on a blistering 64 percent field goal shooting clip.

The seven-time league MVP was also instrumental in stopping the Meralco bigs, helping the Beermen force Cliff Hodge and Brandon Bates to foul out of the game in the fourth quarter quelling any hopes of a comeback rally.

HIGHLIGHTS: PBA Finals Game 4 San Miguel vs Meralco

Of course, it wasn’t an easy job for Fajardo–or the Beermen as a whole, for that matter–making the series a virtual best-of-three.

“The defense on me was good and that also goes for our whole team. We had limited shots but now, like coach (Jorge Gallent) told us, we passed the ball well and that’s the reason why we won.”

The PBA Finals reach a fever pitch in Game 5 at the same venue on Friday at 7:30 pm.