BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – San Miguel Beermen center June Mar Fajardo’s dominant showing in the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup has paid off. He was awarded with the Best Player of the Conference plum.
The Pinamungajan, Cebu native received his ninth PBC citation prior to the start of Game 4 of the PBA Finals series between Beermen and TNT Tropang Giga on Sunday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Fajardo bested teammate Jaymar Perez, Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings’ Scottie Thompson and Japeth Aguilar and Tropang Giga’s Mikey Williams for the coveted individual citation.
The 6-foot-10 Cebuano slotman tallied 1,119 total points and topped both statistics (501) and media votes (537), while ending up tied with Williams for players votes with 81 points each.
Perez was a far-away second in the BPC race with 776 points and finished second in statistics (474) and media votes (257) but only emerged third place in players votes with 45.
The 32-year-old was a frontrunner for the All-Filipino Conference’s BPC award after averaging 18.6 points, a league-leading 13.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.4 blocks through the semis.
The Gilas Pilipinas center’s dominance continued in the ongoing best-of-seven championship series where he averaged 21 points, 17.5 rebounds, 1.75 assists and 1.25 blocks after four matches so far.
While he is grateful with an added collection of awards, Fajardo said that he will be more happy if the Beermen will once again emerge as champions. Their last PBA title came in the 2019 Commissioner’s Cup.
“Hindi ko masyadong iniisip ‘yun eh,” Fajardo said on his individual award. “Tagal na kaming hindi nagcha-champion. Gusto ko rin mag-champion. Na-miss ko ‘yung feeling na ‘yun na mag-champion.”
The Beermen will aim to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven championship series when it takes on the defending champions Tropang Giga in Game 5 on Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum./PN
