Junmar Fajardo imposed his huge presence at the paint, collecting mammoth double-double numbers as Petron Blaze sustained its unbeaten run, roaring to a third straight win at the expense of slumping Governors Cup titlist San Mig Coffee at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Wednesday night.
Fajardo grabbed 25 rebounds and tossed in 21 points as the Boosters whipped the Mixers, 91-78, and in the process gained solo lead in the PLDT myDSL PBA Philippine Cup.
Relegated to second place were Barangay Ginebra and Barako Bull at 2-0.
Arwind Santos also churned out double-double numbers with 17 markers and 14 boards while Chris Lutz set a new personal best in assists with 13 helping the Boosters past the very team that beat them in the deciding Game Seven of the last Governors Cup finale.
The Mixers have remained winless since the title conquest that they pulled off with the help of import Marqus Blakely.
“Junmar was really a post presence tonight,” said Petron coach Gee Abanilla of the Cebuano man-mountain who came through with the first 20-20 game in PBA Season 39.
Curiously, Fajardo himself delivered the last 20-20 performance in the league, getting 20 points and 26 rebounds in Game Four of the 2013 Governors’ Cup finals.
“We’re happy we got another win and no one got hurt,” said Abanilla, adding he’s surprised their team is at 3-0 with injuries to Chris Ross, Yousef Taha, Ronald Tubid and Alex Crisano.
“In all honesty, with lack of preparation and the injuries that we have, I feel we’re lucky to be in this situation right now,” Abanilla pointed out.
Having a hard time to manage their own injury-crippled lineup, the Mixers have fallen to 0-3.
Mark Barroca, Marc Pingris and rookies JR Cawaling and Ian Sangalang tried to carry the cudgels for the Mixers who played catch-up basketball almost throughout.
Barroca topscored with 20 points with Pingris, Cawaling and Sangalang contributing at least 12 each.
James Yap struggled with 1-of-8 shooting and was kept on the bench after being subbed late in the third quarter.
San Mig Coffee actually took the opening quarter at 22-17 but Petron zoomed ahead in the second period and held on to the finish.
Fajardo, Santos and Lutz themselves starred in Petron’s second-quarter onslaught, enabling the Booster to sit on a 44-34 cushion at the turn. (SB)
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