Fajardo’s monster game hands KIA its sixth loss

Naveen Ganglani

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Fajardo’s monster game hands KIA its sixth loss
'The Kraken' June Mar Fajardo scores 36 points on 13/15 shooting while hauling down 17 rebounds
MANILA, Philippines – The reigning MVP of the PBA made sure to send a lasting impression for the Macau-bound Kia Sorento.

Kia, whose players are going to watch Manny Pacuqiao’s match against Chris Algieri this weekend in Macau, had no answer for San Miguel big man June Mar Fajardo who finished with a career-high 36 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Beermen past the Sorento, 90-74, on Wednesday, November 19, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

San Miguel’s win improved their record to 6-1, putting them in a tie with the Alaska Aces for the top seed in the 2014-2015 PBA Philippine Cup lead standings.

Talagang kay June Mar kami pupunta dahil it seems they (KIA) couldn’t control him,” San Miguel head coach Leo Austria said after the game.

(We really went to June Mar because KIA couldn’t control him.)

Fajardo also hit a corner triple that surprised a lot of people. That’s the first triple of the big man’s young PBA career. 

KIA and San Miguel exchanged baskets for most of the game’s first three quarters, but it was the Beermen who took a 64-58 lead entering the final quarter. Not long after, San Miguel unleashed a quick 9-2 run to establish a 73-60 lead and never looked back en route to the victory.

Marcio Lassiter also had an impressive game, putting up 16 points and 4 rebounds. Rookie Ronald Pascual finished with 9 points, and so did Chris Lutz. Former PBA MVP Arwind Santos was limited to only 3 points.

Reil Cervantes led KIA with 16 markers, while former DLSU standouts Joshua Webb and LA Revilla had 9 points apiece.

As a team, KIA shot just 39% from the field and went a disappointing 2-of-17 from downtown. San Miguel made 10 of their 23 3-ball attempts, and shot 42% total from the field.

The loss to dropped the Sorento to a 1-6 record, which is second to last in the league.

Scores:

San Miguel (90): Fajardo 36, Lassiter 16, Lutz 9, Pascual 9, Tubid 8, Fortuna 5, Santos 3, Ross 2, Omolon 2, Mercado 0, Maierhofer 0, Chua 0, Semerad 0

KIA (74): Cervantes 16, Buensuceso 11, Revilla 9, Webb 9, Custodio 9, Dehesa 6, Burtscher 6, Pascual 4, Ighalo 2, Alvarez 2, Sanga 0, Raymundo 0, Parreno 0, Suguitan 0

Quarter Scores: 17-16, 39-38, 64-58, 90-74

Here are more photos of the game taken by Nuki Sabio/PBA Images

– Rappler.com

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