Beermen upstage Gin Kings, climb to second

MANILA, Philippines - MVP winners Arwind Santos and Junmar Fajardo held their ground in their elite matchups with Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter, coming through with clutch hits as San Miguel Beer squeezed out a 79-77 win over Barangay Ginebra to seize second place in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

Santos and Fajardo scored seven crucial points inside the last 24 seconds as the Beermen overcame the Kings’ endgame siege, clinching a fifth win against a lone defeat.

San Miguel’s win also snapped Ginebra’s three-game streak while relegating the Kings to joint third with the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at 5-2.

“We worked hard for three days in preparation for this game and I’m so happy the guys responded to get the important win. I think it’s a good step in our bid to get a top two finish,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

“Junmar played big in this game. He’s our only giant facing Ginebra’s three giants. He took them on and really played well,” Austria also said.

Turning 25 today, Fajardo came through with a splendid 21-point and 15-rebound job capped by a tough undergoal shot off Slaughter and a free throw in the last 24 seconds.

Santos, meanwhile, contributed four charities in the last 15 seconds, helping the Beermen keep their head above water after losing a seven-point lead in the last two minutes of the game.

“We won but we should learn from this game. We knew what we had to do, but we had defensive lapses enabling them to get back into the game,” said Austria.

In the first game, No. 8 draft pick Jake Pascual finally came through with his breakout game in the pros, and Barako Bull scored its first win in the season with an 87-71 drubbing of Kia.