JUNE Mar Fajardo would not deny it: his overtime-forcing turnaround jumper at the end of regulation dropped thanks to a lucky bounce.
“Ilang seconds na lang yun. Iha-hand off ko sana kay Alex (Cabagnot), kaya lang na-deny siya. Nag-turnaround jumper na lang ako at swerte na na-shoot yung tira,” he said with a grin.
Fajardo had no hesitation in going for the shot with time trickling down. His defender, Greg Slaughter, could only watch as the ball hit the back rim and took one bounce before dropping to the bottom of the net to tie the game at 93 with 1.1 ticks to spare.
“Sabi ko talaga, ‘Sana pumasok.’ Pumasok nga so swerte. Ganoon talaga, nandyan ang swerte pa-minsan-minsan,” he said.
That bucket gave San Miguel the mometum-boost it needed to power through in extra time, taking the 104-97 victory for its second straight win.
Fajardo finished with 24 points and 19 rebounds as the Beermen won their second straight game heading to a Wednesday game against lowly Columbian.
“Sana magtuloy-tuloy na,” quipped the Cebuano giant, armed with renewed optimism while staying grounded.
“Malalakas ang kalaban so di mo basta masasabi na mananalo kami agad. Pero ita-try namin ang best namin para makakuha ng maraming panalo. Sana makapahinga kami and then, we’ll take it one game at a time.”