MANILA, 19 January 2005 — San Miguel Beer overcame Alaska 97-86 Monday night to advance into the semifinal round of the Gran Matador-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Beermen, who won the best-of-three quarterfinals duel 91-87 last Friday, led by as many as 21 points before holding off the Aces down the stretch. The Beermen will next face sister team Ginebra in a best-of-five affair. The SMB-Ginebra Final Four series is a sequel to their best-of-7 championship series for the 2001 PBA All-Filipino Cup eventually won by the Beermen in six games.

“I know they will come back, but we were prepared for that,” said SMB coach Jong Uichico. “It was our defense that keyed the win.”

It was only in the fourth quarter when the Beermen were outscored. But it hardly mattered after they went up by as much as 66-45 midway in the third period.

The deficit was too formidable to overcome for Alaska. even with Mike Cortez and Brandon Cablay combining in the final period to push the Aces to within 76-85.

Olsen Racela highlighted his 20-point performance with a big three-point shot that staved off the searing Alaska run and push San Miguel on safer grounds again 88-76.

Danny Seigle iced the game for the Beermen with a difficult fadeaway 90-78, merely 1:58 left in the contest.

Don Allado carried Alaska to within 60-71 late in the third, but the Aces couldn’t score the rest of the period and the Beermen unloaded six straight points punctuated by an off-the-board three-point shot by Dondon Hontiveros for a 77-60 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Aces launched a last-ditch rally, unleashing a 12-4 run capped by a Sonny Thoss dunk to make it 72-81, 6:51 left.

Ildefonso had 17 and Nic Belasco added 16 and 12 rebounds for the Beermen, who swept the Aces in the best-of-three series to improve to 4-0 in the playoffs heading to a best-of-5 meeting against the Kings.

Meanwhile, the fourth and last semifinal berth remains a toss-up between Purefoods and Shell after the Hotdogs forced a do-or-die match with a 90-77 decision in Game 2 of their quarterfinal series.

Tony Boy Espinosa came off the bench in the third quarter and teamed with Jun Limpot as the Hotdogs rallied from a 49-46 deficit with their starters taking a breather.

The deciding game of the best-of-three series is scheduled at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The winner advances to the Final Four and a best-of-5 series against No.2 seed Talk N Text.

Purefoods was in trouble when Espinosa, who finished with 14 points, returned with under five minutes left in the third. The back-up guard quickly responded, scoring 12 points including two 3-pointers and fuelling Purefoods’ energized running game.

The Hotdogs, who are eyeing a first semifinal stint since winning the 2002 Governors Cup, regained a 62-58 lead after three quarters and sealed the win by opening the fourth with an 11-2 blast. Purefoods’ bench outscored their Shell counterparts, 33-10.