MANILA: It was Talk 'N Text's turn to play defense this time.

The high-octane offensive squad turned the tables on Alaska last night, settling the issue right in the third quarter on the way to an emphatic 92-73 victory that pruned the Aces' best-of-seven lead for the Philippine Cup to 2-1 at the Araneta Coliseum.

"Just like in any place, I still feel that defense wins championships," Talk 'N Text coach Chot Reyes told reporters, moments after holding an opponent below 100 points for the first time in these playoffs.

"I also felt that the most important thing for us right now was to win one (game)," Reyes added after the win that kept them alive. "We will worry about (winning) the next one on Wednesday (in Game 4)."

Not only were Texters' guns on target last night, but their defense held its own as well as the Texters held starting Alaska guard LA Tenorio scoreless for the first time in the series while limiting Willie Miller to 11 points — all in the first half.

The 5-foot-9 Tenorio, who came into the game norming 22 points a contest built on a career-high 27-point explosion in the series opener, was held down to just five attempts by the Talk 'N Text defense that was focused on him all night.

"We faced a team tonight that we thought we faced in Games 1 and 2," Alaska 's Tim Cone said.

The Texters opened a 75-45 lead with 3:02 left in the third period after five straight points from Jimmy Alapag, who capped the spurt with an end-to-end lay-up that clearly snuffed the fight out of the game Aces. It was the worst loss for the franchise under the watch of Cone since Game 6 of the 1997 Commissioner's Cup against defunct Gordon's Gin, which won, 106-79.

Talk 'N Text, which was held down to an average of 93.5 points in the first two games, imposed its offensive will early and never let up, as Mac Cardona scored 10 first quarter points which resulted in several double digit leads right in the first half.

Cardona played his finest offensive game in the series by finishing with 23 markers built around a 4-of-8 clip from three-point range, while Alapag scattered 19. Two others, rookie Jared Dillinger and Harvey Carey, wound up with twin digits. "I think the important thing was that we were able to knock down shots. Finally, we hit them (shots)," Reyes said.

Unlike in the first two games where the Texters scrambled — and lost — in the endgame, Talk ’N Text didn't need a super effort in the final period to pull out its first win in the series. It was Alaska which was left experimenting on combinations in an effort to turn the game around after lagging behind by 30 points. And Cone didn't get anyone to step up, blaming fatigue on Tenorio on why his crew never got going.

“I saw that LA was already fatigued in practice yesterday (Saturday),” Cone explained.

Larry Fonacier came off the bench in the second quarter and went on to lead the Aces with 13 points, the same outputs of Sonny Thoss and Reynel Hugnatan.

Another vital element who was practically absent for Cone last night was Jeffrey Cariaso, the veteran, who was held down to just four points in 10 minutes of action. Tenorio was played for only 25.

Meanwhile, the Best Player of the Conference race has boiled down to Alaska 's Miller and Cardona of Talk 'N Text, with the two-time MVP Miller finishing third with a per game average of 31.6 statistical points.

Asi Taulava of Coca-Cola actually finished first with a 32.4 clip, with Sta. Lucia's Kelly Williams, the reigning MVP, in second at 32.1. But the ouster of their respective teams from the championship all but extinguished hopes of them winning.