MANILA, 12 August 2003 — Alaska unleashed a big third quarter to beat San Miguel Beer 87-72 and make the semifinals of the Invitationals at the Astrodome.

The Aces limited the Beermen to just six points in the fateful period while unleashing 25 of their own for a 58-42 lead that was hardly dented for the remainder of the game.

The picture looked grim early in the first half, when Alaska watched San Miguel erect a 10-point lead. Then Rob Duat hit a triple. John Arigo added another.

In the second half, Mike Cortez began to hit his shots. Stephen Padilla, too. By the end of the game, several players of the Aces stepped up, leaving the Beermen bewildered. Scoreless through two periods, Mike Cortez exploded for 11 in the third canto when the Aces outscored the Beermen, 25-6, to all but wrap up their fourth win in a row.

With the win, Alaska made it outright to the crossover semis that start next weekend. By topping Group B, Alaska now gets to meet the second-ranked team in Group A where Red Bull Barako, Talk ‘N’ Text and FedEx are disputing the two semis berths.

The Beermen were hoping to beat Alaska by four to qualify for the semifinals outright. San Miguel’s lone hope of cornering a semifinal slot is if the rag-tag Cebuana Lhuillier-RP Team somehow beats Coca-Cola tomorrow.

“We were lucky they couldn’t buy any shot in the third period. And then Mike and Steph (Padilla) started hitting theirs,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone, who has now won nine straight games dating to the All-Filipino.

While the Aces waxed hot in the third quarter, the Beermen were so cold, it was hard to tell if the San Miguel crowd was frozen in horror or because of the hypothermic temperature.

San Miguel missed 15 of their 18 attempts from the field in that quarter and was routed off the boards, 18-8, as its 38-33 advantage vanished into thin air.

In the first game, Fash-Novi Sad became the lone foreign team to score a win, but got one by default as it beat fellow guest squad Yonsei U, 100-88. The Yugoslavians stormed to a 50-33 lead at half-time as Slobodan Subasic, who scored 18 first half points, drained a triple off a kickout pass by Igor Beljanski to take control of the match.

Fash-Novi Sad simply used its strength and size under the shaded lane to take control early against Yonsei, which was deserted by its famed outside shooting.

The South Koreans missed 15 of the 20 attempts they took from beyond the arc in the first half, and the long rebounds that usually fell in their hands off those misses were collected by Fash-Novi Sad’s tall frontliners.

The Koreans came alive in the middle of the third period, snapping out of their stupor after Fash-Novi Sad took a 22-point lead early.

Applying a constricting pressure defense and suddenly finding the range from beyond the arc, Yonsei U came to within 10 points as Jung Hyup Lee, Jung Goo Jun and Kwang Jae Lee started hitting their shots. But the effort drained the Koreans and they fell behind by 21 at the end of the third, 79-58.

Meanwhile, PBA Commissioner Noli Eala hopes to implement a few policies that will clear up the issue regarding the so-called Fil-shams when the board of governors convenes to discuss key issues that continue to hound the league.

As this developed, a new twist surfaced in the Bong Hawkins-Air21 case, as an unnamed team has expressed interest in hiring the disgruntled forward.

“This could help in the speedy resolution of that issue,” said Eala of the new twist.

The lawyer-turned-commissionerinformed media people of plans to start applying the league rule penalizing teams with ineligible players P500,000 the moment somebody files a case questioning the citizenship of five players the Senate had recommended for deportation.

That recommendation will put for naught Alaska’s preemptive move of dropping guard Jon Ordonio in the injured list. Ordonio was one of five players the Senate asked the immigration bureau to file summary deportation proceedings against.