The Beermen surprised Alaska by coming out with a lot of energy, breaking open a close contest in the second period on the way to a 96-80 victory that pruned the Aces’ best-of-seven series lead for the PBA Fiesta Conference championship to 2-1 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Gabriel Freeman kept himself out of foul trouble, Jay Washington was at his usual best and Arwind Santos woke up from a mild offensive stupor to power the Beermen to a 19-point first half lead that they bloated to as many as 24 midway in the third period.

“When you come down to games like these, you have to play to your identity,” San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen said. “And our identity is defense. Defense brought us here. We’re still down (in the series) and there’s no room for us to think that we’ve done anything.” Freeman, after fouling out again in Game 2 and scoring just 14 points, dropped 24 that went with 20 rebounds, while Washington, named before the series as the tournament’s Best Player, contributed 23.

Freeman, the tournament’s Best Import, also had just four fouls and was not in any way in danger of hitting the showers early, unlike in the first two outings.

Santos, on the other hand, contributed 18 and veteran Danny Ildefonso had 10.

San Miguel utterly dominated the Aces off the boards with a 49-29 edge in rebounding, as the Beermen got so many looks at the basket.

“We got a real dose of reality out there,” Alaska coach Tim Cone humbly said. “We allowed them (Beermen) to play to their formidable talent. Everyone was tapping us on the back because of the 2-0 lead and we fell into the trap.

“That (loss) was ugly.” Indeed it was, as the Beermen, after being up by just four points at the end of the first 12 minutes, had one run after another in the second period and opened up a 49-30 halftime lead. The score after the first quarter was 22-18.

Alaska import Diamon Simpson was held down to harmless numbers by the San Miguel defense that swarmed on him every time he touched the ball near the basket.

Simpson, after coming into the game shooting 28.5 points and grabbing an average of 19 rebounds, had just 16 and 11. He had just five touches inside the paint in the entire first half.

San Miguel extended that 19-point first half lead to 56-32 in the third and the best that Alaska could do was trim that down to 75-62 early in the fourth quarter after two Larry Fonacier free throws.

But the Beermen responded with a 10-3 spurt, courtesy of an Olsen Racela triple, and put the game away. Racela, who played the 900 game of his career and became the first non-pioneer player and just the fifth man in league history to do so, finished with nine points.

Alaska committed 16 turnovers in the first half alone, resulting into 18 points for San Miguel.

Meanwhile, James Yap, less than two months after his much-publicized split with Presidential sister and TV personality Kris Aquino, won the season MVP award as the Derby Ace gunslinger became the eighth player in league history to win the honor at least twice.

Getting majority of the votes from the covering media and television coverer Solar Sports, Yap, the MVP in 2006, tallied 2,577 points and won the award running away from Alaska point guard LA Tenorio.

Tenorio made the Mythical First team together with Yap, Washington, Alaska’s Sonny Thoss and Santos.

“I thank God for this award,” said Yap, who broke down inside the press room when he dedicated his latest milestone to son Baby James, whom he has not seen in close to eight weeks after Aquino left their home.

“This is probably my most emotional award, the sweetest victory in my career,” Yap explained considering that he still played his best despite his marital woes that have made front pages of various tabloids and broadsheets.

“Even when I was a kid, it has always been in the (basketball) court where I have sought refuge,” he continued. “When I am playing, I am able to shut down all distractions.” Derby Ace teammate Rico Maierhofer, the second overall pick in the Draft, won Rookie of the Year honors.