San Miguel’s championship muscle flexes again as June Mar Fajardo’s 20-20 game powers Beermen into PBA semis  

Great teams don’t always start strong — they finish stronger. San Miguel Beer once again reminded the league why it sits atop the PBA hierarchy.

Shaking off an uneven opening, the Beermen leaned on composure, experience, and a devastating third-quarter surge to dispatch NLEX, 101-94, on Thursday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, sealing a semifinal berth in the PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup. 

The win marked San Miguel’s 10th straight — a streak built not on dominance alone, but on the ability to adjust when games refuse to follow the script.

Early on, it was the Road Warriors who looked sharper. NLEX raced to a 20-13 lead and kept San Miguel scrambling for much of the first half, forcing the top seed to play from behind and search for rhythm. Even at halftime, the Beermen trailed 53-47, with the pressure of a perfect run beginning to show.

“We had a bad start. Maybe we were feeling the pressure. Nine wins is not a joke, it’s a lot of hard work and sleepless nights for the players,” said coach Leo Austria.

That pressure, however, dissolved the moment San Miguel rediscovered its identity after the break. With renewed focus, the Beermen unleashed a 32-19 third-quarter blitz that flipped the game on its head. 

June Mar Fajardo and Don Trollano spearheaded the turnaround, punishing mismatches, winning the hustle battles, and finally dragging the contest into San Miguel’s comfort zone.

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There’s no letting up for nine-time Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo.

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“But sabi ko nga, because of the experience, they know how to win especially in the second half. Give credit to NLEX, they were really prepared. We were not able to execute in the first quarter. But the likes of June Mar, he didn’t score a lot in the first half, but in the second half, he knows how to win.”

Fajardo embodied that sentiment to the fullest. The eight-time MVP authored a throwback performance, grinding out a monstrous 26-point, 23-rebound double-double that steadily broke NLEX’s resistance. Trollano, meanwhile, saved his scoring burst for the decisive stretch, pouring in 15 of his 17 points during the third-quarter avalanche that pushed San Miguel’s lead to as many as 13, 68-55.

From there, the Beermen played the clock and the moment, never allowing the Road Warriors to seriously threaten down the stretch.

The victory carried historical weight. San Miguel advanced to the All-Filipino semifinals for the fifth straight time and for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons, according to PBA statistics chief Fidel Mangonon — a staggering marker of sustained excellence in a league built on parity.

For NLEX, the loss closed a difficult chapter. The Road Warriors bowed out after dropping four straight games, their promising run undone by the league’s most battle-tested core.

San Miguel now awaits the survivor of the Converge–Barangay Ginebra quarterfinal duel, carrying with it not just momentum, but the quiet confidence of a team that knows exactly when to strike.

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