Shawn Daniels played above expectations for the second straight time for Talk 'N Text and extended his stay with the team.

Those, in essence, was how both imports played as central characters for their respective squads as the Llamados earned the right to play on and the Tropang Texters moved within another victory of clinching a title series slot in the PBA Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum.

Washam delivered the killer blows for the Llamados in the stretch by hitting 12 of his 28 points in the final 5:38 as Derby Ace scored an 88-82 decision of San Miguel that cut the Beermen's lead in their best-of-seven Final Four series to 3-2.

Daniels, meanwhile, scattered 18 points, had 17 rebounds and provided the intangible inside presence for the Texters, who posted an 82-81 nipping of Alaska in the second game for a 3-2 lead in their side of the semifinals.

Rafi Reavis and Marc Pingris, Derby Ace's best defensive big men, were big offensively with a combined 33 points as they helped keep the Llamados in the game before leaving the stage for Washam to take over at crunch time.

Washam actually scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, but the last 12 came when the game truly hung in the balance as Derby Ace grabbed some sort of momentum in order to stave off elimination for the second straight game tomorrow night.

Those 12 points by Washam actually matched his scoring in Game 4, where he struggled big time and helped aid the downfall of the Llamados.

And while Derby Ace was the last team to pull out a come-from-behind series win after being down 1-3, coach Ryan Gregorio is not about to get ahead of himself, reminding everyone that the task at hand still remains to be Game 6.

"May nahugot pa," Gregorio told reporters. "We are really trying to dig deep, to salvage the conference and we're so lucky that we were able to pull it through tonight." As Purefoods in the 2006 Fiesta Cup, Derby Ace became just the second team after that fabled 1991 Ginebra San Miguel squad that was able to win a best-of-seven series after being 1-3 down.

Still, Gregorio talked, looked and acted unsatisfied.

"The core of that (2006) team is still actively playing," Gregorio said. "But we're not here to rewrite history, we're here to play another game and hopefully stay alive. We know there is a purpose why we want to stay alive." That purpose is for the Llamados to make the Finals and have a shot at sweeping both tournaments staked for the year that would complete a mini-Grand Slam, one no team has achieved since Alaska in 1996.

Derby Ace pulled this one out even with James Yap, the prime MVP candidate, held below twin digits for the first time this conference. Coming into last night, Yap was the only local that has scored 10 points or more in each game.

He was limited to seven last night, but his last basket, a three-pointer, came at the 8:16 mark and tied the game for the last time at 81 before Washam took over a few minutes later.

The last time San Miguel was in the lead was at the 3:53 mark when Jay Washington hit a short jumper, but the Beermen would be held scoreless for exactly the next two minutes with Washam to hit seven straight points that made it 83-77 with 2:14 left.

San Miguel's next basket came with 1:53 to go, a Danny Ildefonso jumper that pruned the deficit to four.

But Washam added a free throw and Pingris another two that answered a freebie by Jonas Villanueva for a safe 86-80 lead with under 22 seconds left.

Jason Castro scored the go-ahead basket for the Texters with 23.1 seconds remaining, nailing a layup made possible by a Daniels screen that prevented a collapsing Alaska defense from challenging the shot.

Daniels then did a lot of work in helping the Texters deny the Aces the chance to win the game on the other end as he forced Joe Devance and Alaska import Diamon Simpson to throw up off-balanced short stabs.