PBA: Fajardo shines as Petron pummels Talk 'N Text 

(Updated 10:07pm) The Petron Blaze Boosters closed out the PBA Commissioner's Cup elimination round with a victory over the Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters, 89-76, Wednesday, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. "It's hard to motivate a team when there's [practically] nothing at stake, but we told the guys that we haven't won a game against Talk 'N Text in a long while," said Petron head coach Olsen Racela. "For me that was my motivation. There's no such thing as a no-bearing game." The Boosters, who won only two of their last six games, snapped Talk 'N Text's two-game winning streak. Both teams now will face each other in the quarterfinals ,in a best-of-three series. "The first game is going to be important," said Racela of their upcoming series versus the Tropang Texter, admitting that they have much to prepare for. "Siguro naman hindi naglabas ng lahat ng baraha si coach Norman [Black, of TNT] tonight." The Boosters had lost nine straight against Talk 'N Text, dating back to the 2012 Philippine Cup semifinals, where they fell to the Texters, despite a 3-1 series lead. "It was a really good game for June Mar [Fajardo]. It's gonna be hard to stop June Mar when he's hot and he has a good touch from the perimeter." added Racela. "We hope he plays the same way in our series against TNT. But for us to beat Talk 'N Text in a series, kailangan talagang lahat maganda ang nilalaro." Import Henry Sims led all scorers with 22 points and 23 rebounds. Fajardo won player of the game honors for his 17 points and 10 boards. Denok Miranda added 14 points and five assists, while Ronald Tubid had 10 markers and six rebounds. Petron led early in the first quarter thanks to good halfcourt execution as the game got off to an up-tempo start. The Texters countered with triples from Ranidel De Ocampo and Jared Dillinger to boost a 12-2 run, seizing a 15-8 lead. The Boosters countered by forcing Talk 'N Text to grind it out on offense, conceding only two more field goals in the last five minutes. Meanwhile, Petron got solid contributions from Henry Sims and June Mar Fajardo down low, including a Fajardo put-back with 20 seconds remaining to tie the score at 19-apiece after the first period. Fajardo anchored Petron's defense in the second period against Rabeh Al-Husseini and the rest of the Texters. He and Jay Washington combined for six points in the proceeding 10-4 swing. Talk 'N Text took advantage of a Petron cool-off as the latter began launching air-balls and fumbled transition opportunities, 30-29, on a drive by Jimmy Alapag, but Boosters righted things after a Sims lay-in brought the lead back to six. However, Jayson Castro made some headway in the last two and a half minutes, making a pair of charities and dishing to Jerome Jordan for a fast break slam to trim the deficit to 37-33 after the first half. The Texters made just four field goals in the second period, bringing their clip to 12-of-37 (32.4 percent) after two quarters, while Petron was 15-of-44 from the floor (34.1 percent). TNT was intent on scoring inside after the halftime break, as a Ryan Reyes drive gave them a 40-39 edge. Petron obliged to the shootout and gained some distance, as Tubid was fouled on a step-back three-pointer, but failed to convert the bonus, 49-46. The Texters upped the ante as Jimmy Alapag countered an Arwind Santos bucket with a trey of his own, to rack up seven unanswered points, 53-49. Once again however, Petron leaned on their defense as the quarter wound down, denying Talk 'N Text a field goal in the last five minutes. Meanwhile, Fajardo scored four in an 8-0 run to end the quarter to edge the Boosters ahead, 56-53. An Alapag triple capped an 8-2 Texters run in the fourth period as they trailed by just one, 62-61. Denok Miranda replied with a three-pointer on the other end, as he and Sims combined for 13 points in a 15-5 run, 77-66, with four minutes to play. Talk 'N Text tried to rally around Castro as he buried a triple, but he muffed two charities on their next possession. On the other end, Sims scored on a two-handed put-back to recreate a double-digit lead, 79-69. Alapag and De Ocampo rang home triples in one last comeback try for the Texters, but the TNT couldn't stop Fajardo, as the number one overall pick in 2012 scored Petron's next five, including a fade-away over Jordan with under a minute to play. Petron made 11-of-18 in the final period (61.1 percent) to finish making 34-of-88 attempts from the field overall (38.6 percent). In contrast, Talk n' Text was 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) in the final frame to wind up 26-of-72 overall (61.1 percent). The Boosters led 62-43 in rebounding, including 21-7 offensive. Petron also took a 16-5 edge in second-chance points. Both teams shot well from beyond the arc, as Talk 'N Text made 8-of-20 threes (45 percent), led by Alapag's 5-of-8 mark. The Boosters made 4-of-10 (40 percent). Jerome Jordan led TNT with 18 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. Jimmy Alapag added 17 points and seven assists on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point distance. Ranidel De Ocampo had 13 points and seven rebounds. - RAF, GMA News