MANILA: June Mar Fajardo, in behalf of the entire San Miguel Beer squad, asked coach Leo Austria not to worry too much about their KO match with Meralco in the PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinals.

He worked his butt off to fulfill a pre-game promise and shove the Beermen into the Final Four.

Fajardo scored 22 points and had 16 rebounds and helped the Beermen dominate Meralco, 102-86, to earn the right to play Rain or Shine in the semifinals of the season-closing conference at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

The 6-foot-10 leading MVP and Best Player of the Conference candidate also got a lot of help, with import Arizona Reid shooting 29, grabbing 11 boards and issuing six assists and Marcio Lassiter stepping up big in the second half as San Miguel won in wire-to-wire style.

“He told me: Coach, don’t worry, we’re going to win,” Austria said in the post-game interview, narrating what Fajardo told him after practice on Sunday. “You can see it in his eyes, he was very determined to win.”

The Beermen led by as large as 14 points in the first half and saw this evaporate, as the Bolts charged to within 64-63 late in the third period in a seeming reprisal of their series-opening win, 106-99, on Saturday night.

But Fajardo, Reid and Lassiter had other things in mind, draining all but seven of the Beermen’s 35 fourth quarter points to put the game Bolts away for good.

Game 1 of the San Miguel Beer-Rain or Shine series is slated Thursday at 7 p.m. also at the fabled Big Dome floor.

Tournament No. 1 Alaska and No. 4 Star, the defending champion, start the Final Four ball rolling Wednesday night with the Aces looking to snap a three-series losing streak against the Hotshots and their former coach, Tim Cone.

Fajardo’a gigantic effort not only led his team deeper into the playoffs, but it also enhanced his chances of winning a second straight MVP and bagging a second Best Player of the Conference award.

There was actually a lot riding on this game for Fajardo, who could have kissed his BPC hopes goodbye had the Beermen lost.

Winning a rare consecutive MVP would have also been in jeopardy for the Cebu native if the Beermen would fail to at least make the semifinals.

With the win, he now becomes the heavy favorite to nail down the season’s top individual award no matter what happens in the series against the Elasto Painters.

Andre Emmet paced the Bolts with 28 points and Reynel Hugnatan and Gary David added 17 and 16, respectively.

But Meralco clearly did not have the firepower to match the Beermen, especially with Mike Cortez and Jared Dillinger held to single-digit scores and to just a combined 10 in the final two frames.

Interestingly enough, the teams in the semifinals all don’t have Asian imports, with Alaska backstopped only by Romeo Travis, Rain or Shine by Wendell McKines and Star by former Best Import winner Marqus Blakely.

Arwind Santos drained three triples in the first quarter to jumpstart the San Miguel offensive machine, finishing with 15 points to be the fourth player in twin digits for Austria, who will be gunning for a second PBA championship after winning the Philippine Cup against Alaska.