SAN Miguel Beer and TNT flexed their muscles early and posted similar easy victories over their respective semifinal opponents in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen whipped Meralco, 121-97, while TNT crushed Magnolia Pambansang Manok, 108-96, to draw first blood in the best-of-seven series.

CJ Perez scored 10 of his 25 points in the first quarter as the Beermen zoomed to an early 33-16 lead and never looked back.

Rodney Brondial added a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds, Vic Manuel contributed 16 points andJune Mar Fajardo had 11 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Beermen.

Marcio Lassiter had 10.

Raymond Almazan led the Bolts with 16 markers.

Earlier, Mikey Williams finished with 26 points on 7-of-14 shooting in 36 minutes of action on top of five rebounds and four assists.

The 30-year-old guard also went 4-of-8 from three-point territory to power the second-seeded TNT to a headstart in their best-of-seven series.

Roger Pogoy added 23 points and five assists, followed by Glenn Khobuntin with 18 points and seven rebounds and Jayson Castro with 12 points.

Calvin Abueva carried the fight for Magnolia with 18 points and eight rebounds. Ian Sanggalang, Jio Jalalon and Aris Dionisio added 14 points each for the Hotshots of coach Chito Victolero.

Dionisio also had 13 rebounds.

But Magnolia’s top gunners Paul Lee and Mark Barroca were limited to only nine and seven points, respectively.

Meanwhile, the top two teams of the PBA Philippine Cup are expected to have their hands full in the opener of the East Asia Super League (EASL).

The champion of the All-Filipino Conference plays right away in the season’s very first doubleheader on Oct. 12.

They will travel to Korea and play Korean Basketball League (KBL) runner-up Anyang KGC, which will be bannered by national team mainstay Byeon Jun Hyung and possibly, NCAA Rookie-MVP Rhenz Abando, who recently signed with the Korean team.

The PBA runner-up team will host former NBA player Andrew Nicholson and the Bay Area Dragons in the other half of the twin bill.

On Oct. 19, the other half of the eight-team field make their respective debuts.

The scores:

TNT (108) — M.Williams 26, Pogoy 23, Khobuntin 18, Castro 12, Montalbo 8, Erram 6, K. Williams 4, Marcelo 4, Tungcab 3, Rosario 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Alejandro 0, Cruz 0.
Magnolia (96) — Abueva 18, Sangalang 14, Jalalon 14 , Dionisio 14, Laput 12, Lee 9, Barroca 7, Dela Rosa 5, Wong 5, Reavis 1, Zaldivar 0, Corpuz 0.
Quarterscores: 28-19, 54-37, 86-66, 108-96.

Second game

San Miguel (121)– Perez 25, Brondial 20, Manuel 16, Fajardo 11, Lassiter 10, Cruz 9, Tautuaa 8, Enciso 8, Herndon 7, Pessumal 5, Ross 2.
Meralco (97) — Banchero 17, Almazan 16, Kose 12, Hodge 11, Newsome 9, Quinto 9, Pascual 9, Black 8, Caram 4, Maliksi 2, Belo 0, Pasaol 0, Baclao 0
Quarterscores; 33-17, 60-41, 85-64, 121-97.

Games Friday:

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)
3 p.m. — San Miguel vs Meralco
6 p.m. — Magnolia vs TNT