Jay R. Gotera Saudi Gazette MANILA — With prized 6'11” rookie center Jun Mar Fajardo back in the saddle, the Petron Blaze Boosters resumed their winning ways Friday night, clobbering the GlobalPort Batang Pier, 98-87, in the PLDT myDSL-PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Benched for three games due to an MCL knee injury, the fit-again Fajardo asserted his might in the second half as he and Arwind Santos led a furious Petron assault to overhaul a 12-point GlobalPort lead (51-39) at halfttime. With the victory, Petron regained the solo second spot with a 9-3 card, half a game behind pacesetting Barangay Ginebra's 9-2 mark. Santos and Fajardo combined for a 15-2 Petron run midway in the final quarter as the Boosters surged ahead 94-82 with two minutes left. After playing impressively in the first half, the Batang Pier broke apart in the final period, falling into a maze of errors leading to easy Petron transition baskets. Santos led six Boosters with double-digit scores, finishing with 25 points on top of 10 rebounds. Marcio Lassiter added 16, while Chris Lutz contributed 13. Fajardo added 12 points, Doug Kramer had 11, while Alex Cabagnot took the Best Player of the Game award with his triple double of 10 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. GlobalPort dropped to 4-8 in a tie with Alaska at the eighth and ninth spot. The Batang Pier was led by rookie Jaypee Belencion who scored 21 points. Sol Mercado and Kelly Nabong added 16 and 15 points, respectively. Meralco 74, Alaska 65 Gary David stayed hot for a second straight game as he led the Meralco Bolts to a 74-65 drubbing of the Alaska Aces in the first match of the Friday double-header. David pumped in 24 points to lead the Bolts to their fifth win in 12 outings, tying idle San Mig Coffee and Barako Bull from fifth to seventh place in the standings. In Meralco's previous game against Air21, David poured 34 points, reassuming the role of the Bolts' top gunner. Against the Aces, David was at his most explosive in the endgame, scoring seven of his team's nine points to thwart an Alaska uprising. The Aces were held to a mediocre 33 percent shooting from the field by the tenacious Meralco defense. The game nearly went out of control with 10 minutes left in the final quarter when Meralco's Jared Dillinger and Alaska's Calvin Abueva got tangled up in the paint. Abueva appeared to have struck Dillinger in the face, bloodying the Meralco guard's nose. Dillinger retaliated by pulling Abueva down and holding his neck as if to choke him. Cooler heads intervened to break off the two. Both were assessed technical fouls for the incident. Meralco head coach Ryan Gregorio also had a heated exchange with his Alaska counterpart Luigi Trillo. Dillinger and Cliff Hodge were the other double-digit scorers for Meralco with 10 points apiece. Dillinger also had seven rebounds, and seven assists in his second game as Meralco's starting point guard in place of the injured Mike Cortez. JVee Casio led the Aces with 15 points, while Sonny Thoss added 14 points and 12 rebounds. Alaska lost its second straight game and fell to a 4-8 card. Games Saturday: San Mig Coffee vs. Air21; Talk N Text vs. Rain or Shine.
