The Kraken unleashed: Fajardo steps up for Gilas in FIBA World Cup

Last year he was an almost forgotten role player in the FIBA Asia campaign. This year, he's a big reason why the Philippines has ended an almost four-decade-long wait for victory at the FIBA worlds.

On Thursday 24-year-old June Mar Fajardo came up large in the 81-79 overtime victory against Senegal. Coach Chot Reyes employed Fajardo as half of a twin-towers attack alongside Andray Blatche. The gambit worked as Fajardo scored fifteen points on five-for-ten shooting from the field.

Fajardo narrowly missed a double-double as he grabbed nine rebounds against the towering Africans, second-best on the team to Blatche's 14. Fajardo only turned the ball over once in 32 minutes of play. Only Alapag and Blatche logged more time.

The Pinamungajan, Cebu native also chipped in a pair of assists and, startlingly, a couple of steals as well.

The 6'11” center has been getting lots of praise for being the FIBA World Cup's second-most efficient player after Spain's Pau Gasol. And on Thursday he backed up that reputation with an efficiency score of 20, two more than the next efficient Gilas player, Blatche, and four more than Jimmy Alapag.

There were plenty of other moments for Fajardo in the game. With two minutes to go in the fourth, the Senegalese defense was caught napping, leaving the Cebuano alone on the baseline. Blatche spotted Fajardo with a perfect bullet pass and the big fella finished the play with a colossal two-handed dunk for a vital 62-61 lead.

Fajardo is not known for his prowess from the free throw line, averaging around 67%. But in the overtime period there would be no Hack-a-Kraken. With just under a minute to play Fajardo bloodlessly drained two charities to give the Philippines the all-important two-possession lead at 75-71.

The Beerman finished with a 71% clip from the line, five from seven.

Most Pinoys were watching the game on TV 5 but those tuning in on Basketball TV heard FIBA's English-language commentators gush over Fajardo's sparkling play and how he manned up against the Senegalese bigs like Hamady Ndiaye and Timberwolf Gorgui Dieng. In previous Gilas games, the commentators even wondered aloud why Fajardo wasn't getting much playing time, adding they wanted to see the Kraken play alongside Blatche more.

Fajardo finishes the World Cup with averages of 6.6 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per game, a huge improvement from the recent FIBA Asia Cup, where he only normed 1.8 points and 2.2 boards per outing.

No doubt June Mar caught the eye of one pundit, who is used to towering above opponents herself.

Make no mistake, the Kraken has been released.