PBA: San Miguel comes back from 20 pts down to stun NLEX as Fajardo hits career milestone

MANILA, October 22 ------ San Miguel pulled off an improbable comeback, erasing a 20-point deficit to stun NLEX, 135-133, in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Although they were just playing for seeding, coach Leo Austria told his wards before the game to play their best. "Before the start of the game, what I've told the team, 'let us play to win.' Even though we know na this is for positioning lang, we want to develop is the killer instinct that we were having since we won our first championship," said Austria.

The Beermen trailed by as much as 116-96 early in the fourth quarter but refused to back down, mounting a furious rally to turn the game around. Import George King, Don Trollano, and June Mar Fajardo all did their part to spearhead SMB's attack to eventually close in within two, 131-129, built on a late 11-0 run, capped by the import's corner triple and the forward's baseline drive.

NLEX reinforcement Deonte Burton stopped the bleeding with an off-balanced, falling away shot, 133-129, but that eventually turned out to be the Road Warriors’ final field goal of the night. A Jericho Cruz floater and a Trollano fastbreak off Burton's bad pass tied the match at 133-apiece, 53.8 ticks on the fourth quarter clock.

Robert Bolick tried to lift his team as he drove to the basket, to no avail, as ball went back to San Miguel with 25 seconds remaining. King went for the winner as he used Fajardo's screen—although he missed, Bolick's basket interference gave away the two points the Beermen needed to overtake NLEX, 5.2 ticks. Inbounding the ball, Bolick chose Ljay Gonzales to take the shot and force a different ending, but unluckily for their squad, it hit the front rim as SMB completed the impressive come-from-behind victory.

Fajardo, who reached a career milestone, hitting 10,000 points tonight, was named Best Player of the Game with a huge double-double of 26 points, 10 rebounds, to go with five assists and three blocks. King finished with 27 points, nine rebounds, and three assists, while Trollano had 23 markers and 10 boards, as Marcio Lassiter made his presence felt with 19 points on 7-of-9 clip. On the other hand, it was a heartbreaking loss for the Road Warriors, with Burton pacing them by dropping a huge 43-point output that included four three-point makes. Gonzales and Schonny Winston chipped in 20 markers each, as Anthony Semerad had 14 markers.

The Scores:

SAN MIGUEL 135 – King 27, Fajardo 26, Trollano 23, Lassiter 19, Perez 14, Ross 8, Ahanmisi 8, Cruz 4, Tautuaa 4, Brondial 0

NLEX 133 – Burton 43, Winston 20, Gonzales 20, Semerad 14, Bolick 13, Herndon 9, Valdez 6, Alas 6, Marcelo 2, Bahio 0, Gamboa 0, Nieto 0

QUARTERS: 30-32, 60-68, 96-112, 135-133

Source: news.abs-cbn.com