EVEN with June Mar Fajardo hobbled by an injury, there's no stopping San Miguel Beer from rebounding strong from its sorry defeat in the kickoff of its PBA Philippine Cup semifinal showdown with Barangay Ginebra.
Fajardo played limited minutes due to his health woe (injured calf) but the Beermen still had more than enough firepower to pull off an 100-83 rout, two nights after blowing an 18-point lead in a 71-73 loss.
The Beermen and the Gin Kings are tied with a game apiece as they square off in Game 3 of the best-of-seven semifinal series at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.
Marcio Lassiter led the SMB scoring parade with 16 points with 4-of-5 three-pointers, best typifying the Beermen's turnaround from a bad shooting night in Game 1.
As Fajardo made just two points on 1-of-4 clip in 17 minutes of action, Lassiter, CJ Perez, Moala Tautuaa, Don Trollano, Kris Rosales and Jericho Cruz shared the scoring load in a dominant SMB triumph marked by a biggest lead of 23 points.
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Trollano, Rosales and Cruz fired 14, 13 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench while Perez and Tautuaa made 11 and 10 as starters with Lassiter, Juami Tiongson and Rodney Brondial.
Rediscovering their touch, the Beermen hit at a 48.8-percent clip, improving big time from their 32-percent shooting the last time.
Lassiter and his teammates jumped the gun on the Gin Kings, opening an early double-digit spread and making sure of no repeat of the same sad fate suffered Wednesday.
"When we learned that June Mar will be on 'managed minutes' or 'coach's discretion', everybody's thinking was we have to step up," said SMB mentor Leo Austria.
"Lagi nating sinasabi ang strength ng team ay na kay June Mar. But don't forget, the strength of June Mar is with his teammate. And this was really very evident tonight," he added.
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Tautuaa, as the center starter vice JMF, logged a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Beermen used Fajardo's courage as rallying point in this important game.
"I have to appreciate him because he is a warrior," Austria said of "The Kraken." "He's a team player. He wants his team to be inspired by showing up to the game early. That's enough for the team up to gain some confidence."
Lassiter served as the fire-starter, firing two triples that sparked SMB to an early 21-9 tear.
The scores:
San Miguel 100 - Lassiter 16, Trollano 14, Rosales 13, Perez 11, Cruz 11, Tautuaa 10, Cahilig 9, Tiongson 8, Brondial 4, Fajardo 2, Calma 2, Teng 0.
Ginebra 83 - Holt 17, Gray 10, Pinto 10, Thompson 9, Ahanmisi 9, Abarrientos 7, Rosario 6, J. Aguilar 5, Malonzo 5, David 5, Cu 0, Adamos 0, R. Aguilar 0, Tenorio 0.
Quarterscores: 26-15, 54-41, 76-61, 100-83
