The San Miguel Beermen and the Magnolia Chicken Timplados headline this Friday’s doubleheader in Montalban, with each team looking to stretch their respective win streaks. Will the Beermen take down Magnolia? Or, will the Hotshots find the right mix to throttle San Miguel?

Catch this game live on Friday,  November 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm, Manila time.

San Miguel Beermen (3-2)

Projected Starting Five:

  • Jerom Lastimosa
  • Javier Gomez de Liano
  • Rome de la Rosa
  • Zavier Lucero
  • James Laput

San Miguel has picked things up. The Beermen had a bit of hangover early in the conference, as they lost back-to-back games to the NLEX Road Warriors and Phoenix Fuel Masters. But those struggles seem like from a distant past for San Miguel, which has stitched together three wins in a row since, including the Beermen’s 96-90 thumping of the Converge FiberXers last Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo. It was not an easy win to gut out for San Miguel, which needed a 14-point eruption in the fourth quarter by veteran guard Juami Tiongson to get rid of the pesky FiberXers. 

San Miguel is at its best when it’s not just June Mar Fajardo doing the work, and it showed when Tiongson provided an excellent performance in the final period. Meanwhile, CJ Perez had 13 points for the Beermen, who got 24 points and 16 rebounds from Fajardo. And by holding the high-scoring Converge to just 90 points, the Beermen showed that their defense is something to be feared. Convere is averaging 115.0 points this conference, but did not generate something close to that against San Miguel, which has held its last three opponents to only 91.6 points.

Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots (4-1)

Projected Starting Five:

  • Chris Ross
  • Marcio Lassiter
  • June Mar Fajardo
  • Moala Tautuaa
  • CJ Perez

The Hotshots needed help, and they got it recently when they successfully traded for 24-year-old Titan Ultra Giant Risers forward Chris Koon in exchange for whatever’s left of 30-year-old Aris Dionisio. That comically one-sided deal aside, Magnolia is having a terrific campaign thus far. They are coming off an 83-80 win over the Fuel Masters last Friday in Antipolo. Before that, the Hotshots clobbered the Terrafirma Dyip, 104-93. 

Magnolia’s balanced performance on both ends of the floor came through for the Hotshots, though, they had a drop in form in the second half, where the Fuel Masters nearly did enough to pull off a come-from-behind stunner. Nevertheless, the Hotshots will come into their date with San Miguel with considerable momentum. Magnolia is also third in the league with a plus-6.5 efficiency differential. A good mix of young guns and vets is leading the way for the Hotshots’ success, as Jerom Lastimosa and Zav Lucero lead the team with 15.8 and 15.0 points per game, respectively, while Ian Sangalang and Mark Baroroca are putting up 11.4 and 10.6 points per outing, in that order.

Picks

Spread: Magnolia  (+2.5)
Over/Under: Over (187.0)