PBA title, not another BPC plum, motivates San Miguel's Fajardo

MANILA, Philippines -- Winning the Best Player of the Conference (BPC) award is just a plus for June Mar Fajardo, as the San Miguel Beermen tied their best-of-seven PBA Philippine Cup Finals against the Meralco Bolts at two games apiece.

Fajardo, who won his 10th BPC award before the tip-off of Game 4, came up big for the Beermen on Wednesday night with a stellar double-double of 28 points and 13 rebounds despite having four fouls in the first half.

The 34-year-old center, after the game, stressed he was not motivated by winning BPC.

Instead, he was more pushed by the possibility of the defending champions going down 1-3 in the finals.

“I am motivated because we were down by one game in the series. The BPC, that was just a bonus,” he told reporters in Filipino.

“I was not inspired by winning the BPC. I really had to [impose my will] inside because if we lose, 3-1, it will be difficult to bounce back from being down 3-1,” he added.

“We wanted to win, and we wanted to tie the series.”

The ever-humble Fajardo deflected the credit to his teammates.

“I am happy to get the BPC, but I will credit my teammates because I would not get it without them,” he said.

“Anyone in our team could win the BPC because the squad is just deep,” he added.

The Cebuano also tipped his hat to the coaching staff, saying whoever the team sent out on the floor was able to step up.

San Miguel head coach Jorge Gallent, for his part, stressed that Fajardo “really worked hard for it.”

“It doesn’t come easy. He worked hard for it. So I’m happy that he got it,” he said.

Fajardo won his second straight BPC in the Philippine Cup, after edging out Terrafirma Dyip rookie Stephen Holt, NLEX Road Warrior Robert Bolick, teammate CJ Perez and Barangay Ginebra’s Christian Standhardinger.