WATCH: June Mar Fajardo Highlights [San Miguel vs Rain or Shine | May 19, 2024]

June Mar Fajardo came up with another dominating performance that led San Miguel Beer to a 106-89 victory over Rain or Shine Sunday in their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals duel at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Fajardo scattered 18 of his 22 points in the third period, spearheading a massive attack that fully broke the Beermen away from an otherwise close contest and eventually into a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Making the win extra special was Marcio Lassiter finishing with 13 points anchored on three triples that moved him into third place overall with 1,219 in his career.

That fact gave SMB coach Jorge Gallent another source of delight after his side played much more solid than in a 101-98 squeaker in the series opener last Friday.

“We just got better getting back on defense. The players really went down well and we were getting good shots, that’s why we were able to sprint back down and stop their fastbreak points, which was our main concern,” said Gallent.

“At least now we did a better job sprinting back on defense and getting good shots, better shots than in Game 1. So I guess we just have to do the same in Game 3 and keep the energy up and keep on pressing the gas,” added Gallent.

None translated that mantra into game more than Fajardo, who took just three shots for four points in the entire first half before bringing on the heat in the third quarter that netted SMB an 88-69 buffer going to the last 12 minutes of play.