December 03, 2024

June Mar Fajardo makes presence felt in Gilas Pilipinas' dominant win against Hong Kong

June Mar Fajardo makes presence felt in Gilas Pilipinas
June Mar Fajardo already has eight points after the opening quarter against Hong Kong, surpassing his mere six-point outing prior in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers. | Photo (c) RM Chua/One Sports

Three days ago, June Mar Fajardo was relatively quiet on offense in Gilas Pilipinas' historic win over New Zealand in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers.

Against the highly physical Tall Blacks, Fajardo wound up with just six points in almost 19 minutes of play.

On Sunday, Nov. 24, the eight-time PBA Most Valuable Player already surpassed that count with eight after only the opening period against Hong Kong at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.


June Mar Fajardo heats up in Gilas Pilipinas' second window match versus Hong Kong in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers on Sunday, Nov. 24. | Photo (c) RM Chua/One Sports

That set the tone for the Nationals in their 93-54 disposing of the visitors to retain the top spot in Group B with an immaculate 4-0 win-loss record.

After imposing his size and might from start to finish, the Kraken went on to collect 14 points, eight rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block before sitting out the fourth period in the runaway win.

Gilas Pilipinas broke away in the third on a 22-8 bomb anchored on its balanced attack.

The Filipino dribblers were simply unstoppable from that point.

Carl Tamayo topscored for Gilas with 16 points and added five rebounds, while Justin Brownlee turned in 13 points he spiked with three rebounds and the same number of assists and steals.

Kai Sotto followed up his near-triple double performance against the Tall Blacks with another impressive 12-15-2 outing in just over 23 minutes of play.

CJay Perez added 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal.

“In the second half, I felt we came out and got to the shooters a little better. We scrambled a little bit more,” said Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone.

“Offensively, we moved a lot better in the second half… When the ball moves, everybody feels like they are involved. And it carries over to the defensive side as well, and we started defending better.”

Meanwhile, Shiu Wah Leung shot three triples to pace Hong Kong with 11 points on top of two rebounds, an assist and two steals.

Oliver Xu added 10 points, four rebounds and two assists, Ricky Yang scored nine, while Choi Kwan Tsai had eight points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Hong Kong has remained winless in four games.

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