SMB ousts Blackwater, books semis ticket

Top seed San Miguel rode a strong first half to ultimately eliminate Blackwater, 123-93, and reach the semifinals stage of the 2022 PBA Philippine Cup on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Seven SMB players breached double digit scoring with Marcio Lassiter and CJ Perez dropping 18 points each while Jericho Cruz finished with 17 markers as SMB joined TNT in the semis.

Coming off a stellar run in the eliminations round where they finished with a 9-2 card, the Beermen refused to slow down with the returning Cruz dropping 12 of his overall output early as they built a 63-39 disparity from the Bossing.

Cruz, along with Robbie Herndon and head coach Leo Austria,  were previously placed under health and safety protocols.

The Beermen continued with the hot shooting in the third as their lead ballooned to 31, 94-63, to move closer to returning to the All-Filipino semis.

June Mar Fajardo carved out another double-double outing of 11 points and 10 rebounds to go along with six assists while big men Mo Tautuaa and Vic Manuel each had 12 markers.

Rookie Ato Ular paced Blackwater with 15 points, 11 rebounds, one steal, and a block while Baser Amer chimed in with 13 markers in the losing effort.

SMB is eyeing to reclaim the Philippine Cup title after winning five straight titles from 2014 to 2019 but missing out in the last two editions, which were ruled by Ginebra in 2020 and TNT in 2021.

They now await the winner of the quarterfinals duel between sister team Ginebra and Meralco with the Bolts holding a 1-0 series lead.

—JMB, GMA News