Beermen avert disaster

ANTIPOLO, Philippines — Longer route, same intended destination.

After missing the express lane, San Miguel Beer navigated its way into the PBA Governors’ Cup semifinals with a nail-biting 109-105 victory over pesky Converge in their quarterfinal rubbermatch last night at the Ynares Center here.

And it took a strenuous 48-minute effort from the Kraken, June Mar Fajardo, who muscled his way to 40 points and 24 rebounds, and the rest of the gang as SMB squeaked out of doom after trailing by eight in the last 6:38.

Import EJ Anosike submitted a 23-10 double-double while CJ Perez shot 10 with nine assists as the Beermen averted a major disaster after blowing a 2-0 head start in the race-to-three contest to set a duel with Barangay Ginebra in the best-of-seven Final Four.

“Nag-step up kami lahat sa game na ito. Do-or-die na ito, pag natalo kami, uuwi na. Ayaw pa naming umuwi,” said Fajardo, who posted his third career 40-20 game and fifth 40-point outburst in can’t-miss encounters.

“Lagi kaming sinasabihan ni coach (Jorge Gallent) na laruin ang ‘San Miguel basketball’ at ‘yun nga ang ginawa namin para makuha ito.”

It was a big-time struggle before SMB put this one to bed against the tough FiberXers.

Buoyed by their 114-112 Game 3 steal and 114-100 tying followup in Game 4, the FiberXers hit the ground running in the decider and went up by 13 early on.

It was Fajardo who pumped life back to the Beermen with his 18-point spree in the second canto and kept them afloat when Converge wrested control back in the second half. Fajardo and Anosike combined for 13 fourth-quarter markers while the FiberXers disintegrated in the finish.

“We gave him more touches in this game,” said Gallent of Fajardo. “We just went to him and he just decided what to do in the post. He played his heart out. I have nothing but praises for June Mar.”