MANILA, 1 July 2006 — If there’s anything that Ryan Gregorio does not like about working on a Sunday is that he won’t be able to enjoy Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Mexican Oscar Larios.

The eloquent Purefoods coach will have a lot of things to do, foremost of them is how to get his Chunkee Giants fully prepared to slug it out in a do-or-die Game 7 with Alaska for a seat in the Finals of the PBA Philippine Cup.

“We can’t enjoy the Pacquiao fight, we still have a job to do on Sunday,” Gregorio said, moments after a masterful come-from-behind 99-96 decision of the Aces last night at the Cuneta Astrodome that leveled their best-of-seven series at 3-3.

“We lived to play another game, and again, we can’t celebrate because all we’ve done is tie the series.”

Purefoods came back from several double-digit deficits in the second half and the Giants have now erased what was an imposing 3-1 Alaska lead in the series and more importantly, gain the psychological edge in the KO match.

For coach Tim Cone of Alaska, the loss could mark the start of a recurring nightmare, one which the team suffered in the 2002 Governors Cup when this same Purefoods squad erased a 0-2 deficit to win the championship. Alaska will have no one to blame, in case it does lose Game 7.

Looking back last night, the Aces were only able to score two points in the final seven minutes as the Purefoods defense held true after its offense clicked, effectively clamping down on the vaunted Triangle Offense of the Aces.

It was not only Purefoods which came out of the rut to win, though, as sister squad San Miguel, after getting 23 points from Christian Calaguio and 21 from Danny Seigle, tore Red Bull to shreds, 116-101, to also forge a decider in their separate series.

Calaguio, just a few days after being splashed all over the headlines after suing his household help for stealing P2,500, hit 14 of his total in the final two periods, while Seigle scored 10 in the third and eight in the fourth. Seigle, thus, extended his record string of 20-plus point games to 17 and coach Jong Uichico got 18 points each from Olsen Racela and Dorian Pena and 10 from Danny Ildefonso in the lopsided win.

Seigle also became the 53rd player in league history to shoot more than 5,000 points in his career, getting the game ball symbolic of the feat from Commissioner Noli Eala during the halftime break.

“We came out hard and got rewarded for it,” said Uichico later. “We played well, no doubt about it, but all of this will go to naught if we come out flat on Sunday (for Game 7).”

The Beermen slowly broke away in the second period, where Racela scored nine of his total and Calaguio five, as San Miguel turned a 25-21 advantage after the first 12 minutes into a 55-44 lead entering the fourth.

Enrico Villanueva tossed in 21 points to lead Red Bull’s losing cause and the Barako will have to get their act together fast so as not to blow a 3-2 lead and keep alive their hopes of sweeping both titles staked for the year.

Both Game 7s will also be played at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City tomorrow.

Alaska led, 71-59 in the third and seemed headed to an easy victory when Purefoods showed signs of finding anyone as a go-to-guy.

And instead of one player stepping up, several rose to the challenge and baffled the Alaska defense.