Beermen buck foul trouble to deny Tropang Giga, lead 2-1 in PBA Finals

MANILA, Philippines — June Mar Fajardo tallied a 20-20 statline to lead the San Miguel Beermen to a gritty 108-100 overtime victory over the TNT Tropang Giga in Game Three of the PBA Philippine Cup Finals at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Friday.

Fajardo, who was the go-to scorer for the Beermen all game long, finished with 27 points and 27 rebounds to make up for CJ Perez and Marcio Lassiter's exit after fouling out in the fourth quarter.

But it was Robbie Herndon who was the unlikely hero for the Beermen, scoring five straight points to begin the extra period and spearheading a 9-0 run by SMB to blow TNT out of the water.

Herndon's explosion made up for his delay-of-game error late in regulation that led to an RR Pogoy charity shot, which forced overtime.

With 1:31 ticks remaining in overtime, Chris Ross converted on a 3-pointer to keep SMB's lead at nine.

While Pogoy made his own triple in the next possession, the clock ticked against TNT's cause SMB held on for the victory.

Jericho Cruz converted on two freebies to put the nail in the coffin, 108-100 with 41 seconds left on the clock.

Cruz was the supporting cast to Fajardo's offensive onslaught with 18 markers off of the bench.

Herndon, for his part, finished with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting.

Pogoy paced TNT in the loss with 25 points. Poy Erram added a double-double of his own with 11 points and 15 rebounds.

SMB hopes for a 3-1 advantage in Game Four on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.