June Mar Fajardo for Rookie of the Year? Why not.
The Cebuano slotman continues to make his case for the coveted plum as he powered the Petron Blaze Boosters to a pulsating, 90-88 win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters last night in Game 2 of their best-of-five semifinal series at the Cuneta Astrodome.
The six-foot-11 Fajardo, playing out of the University of Cebu, came up with his finest performance in the league, firing a career-high 26 points and grabbing 17 rebounds in Petron’s second straight win in the series that pushed them a win shy of advancing to the finals.
It was the Boosters’ 10th straight win as they have never tasted defeat since starting the tournament with an 83-89 loss to the Meralco Bolts last Aug. 16.
Fajardo was also a big factor in Petron’s 91-83 Game 1 victory where he logged 15 points, 17 boards and two blocked shots. Elijah Millsap added 19 points, Arwind Santos tallied 16, while the Marcio Lassiter had 13.
The beleaguered defending champions Painters were led by AZ Reid, who pumped in a game-high 39 points but a crucial undergoal stab that could have sent the game into overtime missed its mark.
The Boosters took an 89-80 lead with only 1:48 left but the Painters refused to raise the white flag and made one big push.
Rain or Shine shackled Petron in the searing run while stringing up eight straight points capped by a follow-up shot by Beau Belga that shoved the Painters to within 88-80 with only 9.9 seconds remaining.
The Painters then sent Millsap to the free throw line with 6.5 ticks left and the Petron import managed to convert just one of the two freebies, giving the Painters a chance to further inch closer.
The Painters fared miserably from the three-point line in the entire game where they missed all of their 18 three-point attempts.
With this in mind, Reid went for the higher percentage shot but his attempt from the shaded lane over the outstretched arms of Millsap failed to hit the mark as time expired.