Beermen book semis slot

San Miguel Beer punched a ticket to the semifinals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup after eliminating NLEX, 101-94, on Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

June Mar Fajardo led the Beermen with 26 points and 23 rebounds as they used their twice-to-beat advantage to extend their winnkng streak to 10 straight games.

“We struggled in the first half because credit to NLEX they were really prepared, especially in the first quarter, we were not able to execute our game. But the likes of June Mar Fajardo, he didn’t score a lot in the first half but come the second half, he did," San Miguel head coach Leo Austria said.

The Beermen will face the winner between Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Converge in a best-of-seven series.

Jericho Cruz scored 18 points for San Miguel while Don Trollao had 17 point to his name.

Robert Bolick's double-double effort of 31 points and 10 rebounds came up short as the Road Warriors end their Philippine Cup campaign.

Meanwhile Ginebra forced a do-or-die match with Converge after a 105-85 victory at the Big Dome.

RJ Abrrientos fired a career-high 35 points on Christmas Day to keep the Kings in contention in the playoffs.

Justine Baltazar had 16 points and 13 boards for the FiberXers.