Fajardo, Santos lead Beermen to pivotal 3-2 edge over Aces

MANILA, Philippines – Junemar Fajardo and Arwind Santos came through with all-around efforts together and San Miguel Beer finally pulled one over Alaska Milk in a tight, scrambling finish, squeezing out a 93-88 victory and the pivotal three-game-to-two lead in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Friday night.

As something that they had never done in the first four games of the series, the two SMB MVP winners made a big push together to power the Beermen to the threshold of a first all-Filipino championship in 14 years.

Fajardo piled up 19 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks while Santos logged 19 markers, nine boards, five blocks and four assists as the Beermen ended the seesaw trend in the series and finally moved ahead to gain two cracks at winning the crown.

“We’re here to win the championship. We’re given the chance, so why not go for it,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

Austria and his troops take their first shot at the championship in Game Six at 7:30 p.m. Sunday also at the Big Dome.

“Our players are getting familiar with what’s happening in this series. We survived their pressure defense,” said Austria on their crucial back-to-back wins.

“We shot well at the start and, as we lost it later, we turned on our defensive effort. Thus their game plan didn’t work,” Austria also said.

“We did pretty good most of the game. But the big thing was the 40 free throws (San Miguel got). It’s so tough to win with that,” said Alaska coach Alex Compton.

For the record, 22 out of 33 teams that had enjoyed 3-2 lead in a best-of-seven finals went on to win the championship. But out of 11 that came from behind to snatch the series, three were efforts by the Alaska team.

Fajardo knocked in nine free throws while Santos, Doug Kramer, Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter and Ronald Tubid made at least two each as SMB scored 12 more charities than Alaska did – perhaps an indication that the Beermen played more aggressively in the contest.

Fajardo delivered 10 points in the second period and added eight more in the second half after being denied of even a single field-goal attempt by the Alaska defense in the first quarter.

“I told Junemar don’t worry about your offense as long as you’re defending. It’s also good that our shooters made their shots,” said Austria.

Lassiter fired three treys and finished with 16 points while Tubid, David Semerad and Alex Cabagnot combined for 24 markers to make it easier for SMB to score a follow-up on its 88-70 win in Game Four.

Fajardo, Santos, Lassiter, Tubid and Chris Ross teamed up to beat the Aces at the finish of this close match that saw neither team lead by more than eight.

Fajardo scored on a gutsy jumper off an outstretched arm of Sonny Thoss, sparking a decisive eight-to-nothing run that opened an 86-79 lead for SMB entering the last three minutes of play.

And as the Aces fought to within three at 86-89, Fajardo and Santos got the needed rebounds and made the important free throws to seal the win.

Curiously, the Beermen lost tight finishes in Game One, in Game Three and in their elimination-round meeting.

The halftime count stood at 41-all after the two teams engaged in a nip-and-tuck battle marked by five deadlocks and six lead changes.

The Beermen led by eight at 13-5 then the Alaska second stringers came out strong, surging ahead at 28-21 early in the second period.

RJ Jazul rattled in 3-of-4 three-point tries in the first half, the first one giving the Aces a 23-21 lead in the first canto.

After falling behind by seven, the Beermen went to Fajardo and Santos as they mounted their own rally then fought the Aces to a tie at the half.