San Miguel Roars Back From 20 Down to Stun NLEX as Fajardo Hits 10,000

June Mar Fajardo became the 19th player in the Philippine Basketball Association's 50-year history to reach 10,000 career points — and he did it on a night his San Miguel Beermen needed every one of them, erasing a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat NLEX 135-133 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Wednesday and close the PBA Season 50 Governors' Cup eliminations in style.

History and high drama shared the stage at the Ynares Center. San Miguel stared down one of the largest deficits of its season, trailed by 20 with 10 minutes left in the game, and still found a way to win — sealed by a game-winning sequence that required the officials, a goaltending call and 5.2 seconds of chaos to decide.

The Beermen were down 118-98 with 10:07 remaining after a Deonte Burton basket, and the game looked finished. Then Don Trollano ignited the rally. The veteran forward buried a four-point shot to start San Miguel's fourth-quarter charge, and with Jerrick Ahanmisi and import George King hitting from distance, the Beermen had slashed the deficit to four — 127-131 — with 2:47 to play.

NLEX, which had dominated for three and a half quarters behind Burton's 43-point explosion, suddenly couldn't buy a stop. Trollano tied the game at 133-133 with 53 seconds left, and after Robert Bolick missed a layup on the other end, San Miguel put the ball in the hands of its import.

King drove hard to the basket and released a layup that bounced off the rim — but Bolick had pulled on the net while the ball was still over it, and the officials ruled basket interference. The call gave San Miguel a 135-133 lead with 5.2 seconds remaining.

NLEX had one last chance. Rookie LJ Gonzales got a clean look from the left corner, but his potential game-winning triple rimmed out, and Chris Ross secured the rebound as the Beermen completed one of the great comebacks of the Governors' Cup.

"Before the start of the game, what I told the team is let us play to win," San Miguel coach Leo Austria said afterward. "Even though we know that this is for positioning, what we want to develop is the killer instinct that we have been having since the first time we won the championship."

A milestone night for the Kraken

The comeback made the win special. The milestone made the night historic.

Fajardo, the league's only nine-time MVP, entered the game needing five points to reach 10,000. He got there at the 1:22 mark of the opening quarter, his basket tying the game at 24-24 and sending the Beermen bench into celebration.

The 36-year-old center finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and five assists — making sure his milestone night would not end in a loss. He is the 19th player to reach the mark in the PBA's half-century of existence and only the second active player to do so, joining TNT's Jayson Castro, who reached 10,000 in the Commissioner's Cup last May.

Four-time MVP Ramon Fernandez remains the league's all-time leading scorer with 18,996 points — a record that still stands far above everyone else, but Fajardo, at 36, now stands in rarefied company with plenty of games left to climb the ladder.

Burton's 43 wasted as NLEX still takes top seed

For NLEX, the loss spoiled a magnificent individual performance. Import Deonte Burton torched the Beermen for 43 points, including a running shot with 1:23 left that gave the Road Warriors a 133-129 lead and looked like it might be the winner.

Robert Bolick added 13 points and a career-high 15 assists, while Schonny Winston had 20 and Gonzales 20 in the defeat. NLEX had led 116-96 early in the fourth after Winston sparked the run that put the Road Warriors up 20, and the team looked every bit like the Group A favorite it has been.

San Miguel's revenge was sweet in another way: the Beermen had lost 110-96 to these same Road Warriors in their first-round meeting back on July 26, a defeat GMA News described as being handed to them by their "first-round tormentor." This win did not erase that loss — and it did not even take the top seed.

Both teams finished the eliminations at 9-3, but NLEX retained the No. 1 seed in Group A on the quotient rule thanks to that 14-point first-round victory. San Miguel settled for the No. 2 seed after failing to meet the required winning margin to steal the top position.

The consolation prize is momentum. San Miguel will face the No. 3 seed from Group B in the quarterfinals — possibly Magnolia, Rain or Shine, Phoenix or Barangay Ginebra — and the Beermen head into the playoffs having shown they can win when everything collapses around them.

King finished with 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting, adding nine rebounds, four blocks and three assists in a performance that justified the faith San Miguel has placed in its import. Trollano's 23 points and 10 rebounds off the bench provided the late-game assault, Marcio Lassiter chipped in 19, and CJ Perez added 14. Jericho Cruz and Trollano combined for back-to-back baskets that erased NLEX's final four-point cushion before King's game-winner.

The box score tells the story of a thriller: quarters of 30-32, 60-68, 96-112 and 135-133. A 20-point comeback, a basket-interference game-winner, a missed corner three for the tie at the buzzer — and a 10,000-point milestone at the 1:22 mark of the first quarter.

On a Wednesday night in Antipolo, Philippine basketball got all of that in 48 minutes.