By REYNALD MAGALLON
June Mar Fajardo once again stood tallest as he put together a dominant 20-20 performance as San Miguel showed NLEX the end of the road, 101-94, in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Thursday, Dec. 25.
The Beermen unloaded a huge third quarter assault to take the driver’s seat and then rode the broad shoulders of Fajardo in the final frame to put the Road Warriors away and advance to the semifinals.
The 6-foot-10 center poured 16 of his 26 points in the second half to go along with 23 rebounds while dishing out six assists. Don Trollano provided huge support with 17 points — 15 of which he fired in the third frame.
The defending champions led by as many as 13, 68-55, but still had to fend off repeated rallies from the Road Warriors to list their 10th straight victory in the conference after a 0-2 start.
Jericho Cruz also chipped in 18 points while CJ Perez only had 14 points to show. Rodney Brondial also had eight points but grabbed 14 rebounds.
Trailing by six at the half, SMB came into the third frame with a renewed fire as Trollano, Fajardo and Perez connived in a huge 21-2 start in the second half to take a huge 68-55 lead.
The Road Warriors, however, didn’t want to go down without a fight as eight straight points from Robert Bolick kept them within the striking distance, 70-73.
NLEX continued to ride the hot hands of Bolick and stayed in the fight until the waning seconds but rookie LJ Gonzales committed a costly turnover with 18 seconds left, ultimately denying the Road Warriors.
Fresh off a gold medal win in the Southeast Asian Games, Bolick did most of the heavy lifting with 31 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists but were not enough to help NLEX force sudden death Game 2.
