San Miguel Beermen’s Rodney Brondial during a PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals game against Meralco Bolts. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

San Miguel Beer became the first team to secure a place in the semifinals of the PBA Philippine Cup after dethroning Meralco with a 108-97 victory in Friday’s quarters matchup at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

June Mar Fajardo had his usual numbers, but it was Don Trollano and Rodney Brondial who were instrumental in the Beermen taking care of business against the Bolts, who beat them last year to claim the 2024 edition of the all-Filipino crown.

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Trollano dropped 19 points off the bench while Brondial had 13 points and 12 rebounds as San Miguel will face either Barangay Ginebra or Converge in a best-of-seven semifinals, which starts Wednesday.

June Mar Fajardo, Don Trollano and CJ Perez during a PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinals game between San Miguel Beermen and Meralco Bolts. – MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

It was San Miguel’s 10th semifinal appearance in the last 11 Philippine Cups, with its lone absence being the 2020 bubble in Pampanga.

Fajardo had 23 points and 15 rebounds to also play a big part in the Beermen’s elimination of the Bolts, who were fresh off a quarterfinal campaign in the Basketball Champions League Asia in Dubai.

Meralco almost made things interesting late in the third when it cut the gap to 77-75 on a three-pointer from Norbert Torres.

But Brondial’s putback ignited a decisive counter for San Miguel as the lead went back to double digits.

Chris Banchero finished with 32 points while Chris Newsome added 23 for the Bolts.