The wait was indeed worth it for San Miguel.
After a full year, the Beermen finally got back at the very same team that foiled their bid to ascend back to the top of a conference they once lorded over by dethroning Meralco, 108-97, in the PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals, Friday.
Equipped with a twice-to-beat incentive, the perennial contenders refused to waste that good of a bonus, seizing the lead early on before breaking away for good in the final period on their way to booking the first ticket to the semis.
Reaching the last four is a feat per se but making it all the more satisfying for this crew, no doubt, was exacting revenge on the Bolts, who beat them in last season’s all-Filipino championship in six for the franchise’s maiden title.
It was a loss that served as one of the reasons behind the changes that soon took place within the SMB camp, one of which, of course, was bringing back Leo Austria at the helm while relegating Jorge Gallent to a deputy role.
That Austria effect could definitely be felt in this conference, with San Miguel regaining a semblance of their old, deadly form, most especially with how they showed poise in ousting a Bolts side that’s been battered this whole season.
(C) PBA Images
“It was all about pride,” said the four-time Coach of the Year awardee by the PBA Press Corps. “Because we know in the last championship of the All-Filipino, Meralco beat us. And ayan, we redeemed ourselves from that loss.”
June Mar Fajardo, as usual, led the way with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Don Trolano and Juami Tiongson finished with 19 points apiece as the troika were responsible for putting themselves in control early in the match.
The three combined for 22 points to lead the team to a 35-20 lead in the game’s first 12 minutes, before Trollano and Tiongson came through in the final frame to help put the game away after a Bolts uprising during the quarter prior.
Tiongson opened the fourth with a three-pointer, and that triggered a 10-2 scoring spree — capped by a sneaky Mo Tautua’a cleanup of a Rodney Brondial miss — to reconstruct a 14-point lead, 91-77, with 9:22 remaining.
Then came Trollano moments later, knocking down a booming trifecta to push their lead to its biggest at 18, 100-82, approaching the game’s final six minutes as the opposition could no longer put together a decent run to retaliate.
CJ Perez produced 14 points and nine assists. Rodney Brondial notched his own double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds while Tautua’a delivered 10 points and 11 rebounds as six finished in double figures in the triumph.
Now, San Miguel will wait for the winner between Ginebra and Converge in the other bracket for its opponents in the semis. The Kings, who finished the eliminations as the no. 3 seed, are armed with a win-once incentive.
(C) PBA Images
Chris Banchero, on the other hand, finished with 32 points to lead Meralco in the loss that marked the end of what had been an extremely hectic season for a ball club that had to juggle domestic and international duties.
Chris Newsome made 23 points while Norbert Torres added 13 markers as the trio refused to go down without a fight, which was evident during the third when the veteran big man cut a big deficit to just two, 77-75, with 1:28 on the clock.
But then, the Beermen responded with Brondial and Tiongson ending the period with consecutive hits to give themselves a six-point cushion entering the fourth, then came the aforementioned run that restored order.
Banchero and Newsome tried one last time by connecting on seven straight points to cut the gap to a single digit, 106-97, with 27.4 seconds left to play but it was the closest they could get as Chris Ross hit his charities to finish it off.
Now, Meralco is headed for an offseason focused on rest and recovery after playing in a total of three leagues this 2024-25 season, which included the East Asia Super League and then the Basketball Champions League Asia.
The Scores :
San Miguel 108 – Fajardo 23, Trollano 19, Tiongson 19, Perez 14,Brondial 13, Tautua’a 10, Cruz 5, Lassiter 3, Ross 0, Cahilig 0, Rosales 0.
Meralco 97 – Banchero 32, Newsome 23, Torres 13, Quinto 6, Almazan 6, Hodge 5, Bates 4, Cansino 4, Jose 4, Pascual 0, Black 0, Rios 0.
Quarterscores: 35-20, 58-44, 81-75, 108-97.
