PBA PHL Cup: San Miguel Wallops NorthPort, Secures Top Playoff Seed

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The San Miguel Beermen’s chase of the top playoff seed went on as a successful mission following a 126-91 drubbing of the NorthPort Batang Pier in the ongoing PBA Philippine Cup on June 15, 2025, at the Ynares Center.

Needing a blowout dub to claim the No. 1 seed in the upcoming PBA PHL Cup playoffs, the storied franchise immediately blew the game wide open and didn’t allow the Batang Pier to recover.

San Miguel quickly sent in a barrage of three-pointers in the opening frame that set the tone in the 48-minute affair, backstopped by the dominance of CJ Perez who went out flying in the arena to torch the Batang Pier.

Perez became the top offensive weapon for the Beermen in the win, slicing and dicing his way at will in NorthPort’s paint area while also drawing fouls that sent Batang Pier’s front-court rotation in foul trouble.

However, it was the duo of Jericho Cruz and Don Trollano who stole the show at the start of the second frame as they alone almost outscored the entire NorthPort squad before the second half kicked off.

Moala Tautuaa, the team’s backup center, initially ignited the huge 32-22 SMB burst in the second quarter, but Cruz and Trollano ended what he started as they traded treys after treys that steered the Beermen to a huge 19-point lead at the half.

From that point, NorthPort just went out flat for the rest of the game and conceded a lot of areas, especially in the paint where they let the Beermen pound their way inside to build a 25-point advantage before the fourth period started.

NorthPort tried to deploy a mixed 1-2-2 defense in hopes of catching the Beermen off guard but the waxing-hot team shrugged it off by hoisting contested three-pointers that went in. Those types of sequences sucked the life out of the Batang Pier and gave up their biggest deficit of the ball game in the final quarter.

With nothing working for NorthPort, the coaching staff decided to pull out all of their starters with six minutes still left in the fourth frame.

“It’s a motivation for us because it was a disappointing conference for us. I think that’s one thing na nadala sa mindset ng mga players. This game was very important for us, because it will get us to the top four and the twice-to-beat advantage,” said SMB head coach Leo Austria after the win.

Leading the way for the Beermen is Perez who detonated 24 points followed by Cruz and Trollano who each chipped in 17 points each.

Despite the quiet 10-point outing, June Mar Fajardo tallied an all-around performance after adding 11 rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

With the win, the Beermen will be setting up a first-round playoff clash with the Meralco Bolts. During their last encounter, the top seeds cruised to a lopsided 110-98 dub.