San Miguel leaned on a massive third-quarter turnaround to eventually send NLEX packing, 101-94, and book the first ticket to the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup semifinals, Thursday evening at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
Don Trollano ignited the 21-2 rally that flipped a six-point halftime deficit to a 68-55 lead with 6:05 left in the period, which put the Beermen ahead the rest of the way as they made good use of their win-once quarterfinal incentive.
Now, they will be closely monitoring the clash between Converge and Ginebra later tonight as the winner of that series will be their foes in the final four.
June Mar Fajardo submitted yet another monster showing with 26 points, 23 rebounds, and six assists to lead SMB in the Christmas Day win.
Jericho Cruz finished with 18 points, 11 of which he made in the opening period alone. Trollano fired 17 points, including 10 in the aforementioned rally as the Adamson tandem joined hands to spear-head the bench support.
CJ Perez supplied 14 points while Rodney Brondial fell just short of a double-double as the veteran workhorse made eight points and 14 rebounds.
