ANTIPOLO CITY – Christian Standhardinger took advantage of June Mar Fajardo’s absence in the PBA Governors Cup semifinals and finished with his best output yet in a Barangay Ginebra uniform following a 121-112 win over San Miguel Friday night at the Ynares Center.
The 6-foot-8 Fil-German already had 18 points at the half and went on to finish with 33 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists.
The output was his best since coming on board for the Kings and the highest since he dropped 39 points in a 102-94 loss to Alaska during the 2020 Philippine Cup at the Clark bubble while still playing for NorthPort.
READ: Ginebra takes Game One by a mile
Standhardinger admitted it would definitely be a huge challenge had Fajardo, out indefinitely with an MCL sprain, been around in the best-of-five series.
“Obviously, they’re a better team with June Mar because he’s a six-time MVP, and you can’t disrespect that,” said the Ginebra big man, who currently leads the race for the Best Player of the Conference (BPC), who once served as backup to the 33-year-old Fajardo as San Miguel.
But at the same time, Standhardinger said the Beermen have been transformed into a different beast without the 6-foot-11 Fajardo around.
“You can’t take away the fact that they’re a different team without him,” he noted. “They’re a bit more fast-paced, they still have so much talent to play great basketball.”
San Miguel stormed back from as much as a 21-point deficit in the third quarter to tie the game at 95 with 9:05 to play by opening the final period with a 15-0 blast.
The defending champions though, didn’t lose their composure and answered with seven unanswered points to regain control of the game, 102-95.
“I’m just happy we went out and got the victory and got it done today,” said Standhardinger.
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