As the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold.

San Miguel Beer did just that by knocking the crown off Meralco’s head in an emphatic 108-97 victory to move on into the semifinals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

A 10-2 blast by the top-seeded Beermen to start the final period opened a 14-point separation and kept the Bolts at bay with timely answers each time Meralco tried to start an uprising.

San Miguel will face the survivor of twice-to-beat Barangay Ginebra and Converge, squads still playing as of press time, in the best-of-seven semifinals.

The Beermen accomplished a measure of revenge and showed their intent of winning back the title they last held back in 2022.

“It’s all about pride. We know in the last all-Filipino conference (finals), Meralco beat us. We redeemed ourselves from that loss. And then last conference (Commissioner’s Cup) we didn’t even made it to the quarterfinals. Now we’re in the semifinals,” San Miguel head coach Leo Austria said.

“I think it’s a good achievement but we’re preparing this conference to go all the way through the finals and eventually win the championship but it’s going to be a long shot because in the next bracket it could be Converge or Ginebra,” he added.

Best Player of the Conference June Mar Fajardo paced the Beermen with a double-double of 23 points and 15 rebounds while swatting away four shots.

Juami Tiongson and Don Trollano added 19 points each, CJ Perez had 14 while Rodney Brondial posted 13 points and 12 boards for San Miguel, which led from start to finish.

The Beermen’s bench mob gave San Miguel a huge lift as they sustained the momentum while allowing their starters to get valuable rest.

“I think the bench did a good job in our game because they were able to sustain the energy and focus of the team,” Austria said of his relievers’ 36-point output.

The Beermen got into serious trouble in the third period with the Bolts dropping 31 points and even closed in 77-75 on a Norbert Torres triple with 1:28 left.

San Miguel, however, fired back and kept a six-point gap heading into the final period.