Beermen eliminate reigning champs Bolts

MANILA, Philippines — A new PBA Philippine Cup champion will be crowned.

The San Miguel Beermen ousted the Meralco Bolts, 108-97, in their All Filipino Conference quarterfinal matchup Friday evening at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

The Beermen thus avenged their championship series loss against Meralco last season, while punching a ticket to the semifinals. They will face either Barangay Ginebra or Converge, which will still face each other later in the day.

Six players finished in double digits for San Miguel, led by Best Player of the Conference race pacesetter June Mar Fajardo with 23 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks. Juami Tiongson and Don Trollano chipped in 19 markers each.

After the game, Beermen head coach Leo Austria lauded the team’s balanced scoring for the quarterfinal win.

“The bench did a good job in our game because they were able to sustain the energy and focus of the team. You can see it. The composure is really there,” Austria said.

“It's all about pride because we know that in the last championship, the All-Filipino, Meralco beat us. We redeemed ourselves from that loss. In the last conference, we never got into the quarterfinals. Now we're in the semifinals. I think it's a good achievement,” he added.

“We're preparing for this conference to get all the way through the finals and eventually win the championship. It's a long shot because in the next bracket, it could be Converge or Ginebra. We know how strong that team is.”

San Miguel started the game off waxing hot, leading by 15, 35-20, at the end of the first.

This set the tone as they kept Meralco at bay through the next two quarters.

But the Bolts sliced the deficit to just two, 75-77, in the third quarter after a 3-pointer by Norbert Torres.

But a 14-2 run that traversed through the fourth period pushed the lead to 14, 91-77, with 9:22 remaining.

Chris Newsome and Chris Banchero then teamed up and cut it to a 10-point game, 81-91, but a 9-1 finishing kick capped by a triple by Trollano shut the door on a Meralco comeback, 100-82.

CJ Perez added 14 points for San Miguel, while Rodney Brondial and Mo Tautuaa had 13 and 10 markers, respectively.

Banchero and Newsome carried the offensive load for Meralco with 32 and 23 points, respectively. Torres backstopped with 13 markers.

The semifinals will tip off next week.