Meralco buckled down on the defensive end in the fourth quarter and stifled San Miguel, 100-93, to formally seal its spot to the quarterfinals of the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup on the road at the Candon City Arena in Ilocos Sur.

What initially was brewing to be a high scoring affair through the first three quarters, the Bolts tightened up their defensive screws in the final quarter to turn the contest into a grindout affair and improve to a 7-3 record.

Meralco, as a result, became the fourth team to clinch a spot to the next round as it joined Eastern, NorthPort and Converge. The Bolts also kept their bid alive for the Top 2 spot, which merits a twice-to-beat incentive after forging a four-team logjam at the second spot with the aforementioned squad.

After scoring 80 points through the first three frame, the Beermen were limited to just 13 in the final frame and struggled against the Bolts swarming defense.

Even with the game turning into a defensive duel however, SMB was still on the driver's seat with an 89-86 lead halfway through the final frame. 

But Meralco, which completed defensive stops one after another, sparked a 10-0 run, enough to create the much-needed separation against San Miguel.

Akil Mitchell led the way for Meralco with 26 points, 16 rebounds and five assists while Chris Newsome finished with 20 points in his first meeting against the Beermen since drilling the title-clinching jumpshot in the Philippine Cup.

Chris Banchero also had a splendid game with 19 points while rookies Kurt Reyson and CJ Cansino provided quality minutes with the former chipping in seven points and the latter with six – all coming in the fourth quarter – to fend off SMB’s comeback efforts.

June Mar Fajardo dropped 20 points while CJ Perez added 12 points for the Beermen, who seemed to struggle finding their consistent groove in the conference. 

SMB also paraded its fourth import this conference in Malik Pope, who seemed to be still fighting off jet lag with only 14 points and nine rebounds to show.

Despite the loss, SMB remained in the Top 8 with a 4-5 record, although it only gave more hope to teams below it – Magnolia, NLEX, Phoenix and Blackwater – to catch up and squeeze into the quarterfinals picture.