MANILA: June Mar Fajardo churned out the best offensive game of his PBA career on Wednesday night and helped San Miguel Beer avoid an “embarrassing” situation against rookie squad KIA Motors.

Fajardo scored 36 points, highlighting his performance with the first triple of his pro career, as the Beermen broke away from the Sorento in the fourth quarter for a 90-74 victory that meant a tie for the PBA Philippine Cup’s elimination round lead at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen worked up a sweat before scooting away and were rewarded for it after Alaska saw its six-game winning streak come to a screeching halt after taking an 85-78 loss at the hands of Barako Bull in the first game.

Alaska and the Beermen now have identical 6-1 cards with idle Barangay Ginebra just a full game behind with a 5-2 record.

San Miguel coach Leo Austria, maybe because of the relief of having dodged the upset axe, said that a loss to KIA would have been “an embarrassing situation for us.”

And he couldn’t stop heaping praises on his 6-foot-10 franchise player.

“We were going to go to June Mar because nobody (from KIA) can stop him,” Austria said. “Now, our goal of claiming a top two spot has suddenly looked promising because (of the Alaska loss) and the Talk ‘N Text loss on Saturday.”

“It was a scary first three quarters for us,” Austria continued. “I was so scared after seeing Alaska lose to Barako Bull, it just occurred to me that a trend (for the night) could take place.”

Fajardo, though, wasn’t about to give in to that.

The reigning MVP, who just came from a classic battle against Barangay Ginebra’s Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar in a 79-77 victory over the Gin Kings on Sunday, scored all but 10 of his total in the final two periods.

Fajardo was running rings on all defenders thrown at him and when all that was left to be settled was the final count, rifled in his first PBA triple that had the entire San Miguel bench on its feet and applauding.

Marcio Lassiter was the only other player in twin digits for Austria with 16.

San Miguel nipped the Sorento in the rebounding battle, 53-43, thanks to Fajardo’s 17 boards.

In the first game, Denok Miranda spearheaded a hot Barako Bull start that had Alaska gasping for air.

The 6-foot-1 point guard finished with 21 points as the Energy took leads of as many as 21 before fending off the Aces in the fourth quarter to win for the second straight game.

With a 2-5 record, the Energy stayed within the circle of teams that will advance to the playoffs, and, coupled with the Sorento loss that gave KIA a 1-7 card, has some buffer going into the final two weeks of the elimination round.

The loss was the first in seven games for the Aces, who never got into a rhythm even if they played their usual gung-ho offense.

RR Garcia played his best game in a Barako Bull uniform, tossing in 18 points, 10 of then in the final frame as the Energy held off the Aces.

Calvin Abueva again paced Alaska with 16 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, but didn’t get much support from the team’s other stars with Dondon Hontiveros good for only eight points and Cyrus Baguio three.

Meanwhile, the selection committee tasked to come up with a short list of candidates for the new Gilas Pilipinas coach now has two names in mind and will be interviewing the candidates in the coming week.

The group, which is being chaired by PLDT’s Ricky Vargas, did not bare the names of the two candidates pending their interview.

However, it is safe to say that none from among former national coaches Tim Cone of Purefoods, Norman Black of Meralco and Jong Uichico of Talk ‘N Text and Yeng Guiao of Rain or Shine are in the list.

The group said that the candidates were named because they can handle the national team full time and that they have no commitments with any team at the moment.

And that makes naturalized American Tab Baldwin, Ryan Gregorio and league legend Robert Jaworski as among those rumored to be candidates.

The committee is expected to finish talking to the two candidates before the end of the week before they pass their names to basketball godfather Manny V. Pangilinan for the final choice.