Ryan Reyes and Larry Fonacier combined for nine of Talk 'N Text's conference-high 16 three-point shots, and the Tropang Texters blasted Alaska, 103-85, in a stirring semifinal round opening game Friday night in the PBA Governors' Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Reyes shot 6-of-8 and Fonacier 3-of-5 from rainbow territory, and Talk 'N Text complemented that ferocious outside shooting with a 32-17 spread in assists in picking up its third straight win and seventh overall in nine games for a firm grip of the solo lead.

Close to becoming only the fourth franchise to capture a Grand Slam, the Texters saw action without Ranidel de Ocampo, who suffered a fractured nose bridge during practice Thursday after absorbing a hi from teammate Gilbert Lao. His absence didn't create a wide void, though, as Talk 'N Text had a respectable 45.9 shooting clip from the field (39-of-85) and buried the Aces under the weight of their points off fastbreaks with 27.

Talk 'N Text also paraded a new import in Scottie Reynolds, a popular individual while playing for Villanova in college. He collected 18_points, six assists, and five rebounds.

"This is just step one," said TNT coach Chot Reyes. "There are still a lot of games to be played."

Reyes likewise admitted that part of the plan why they decided to replace Maurice Baker at the heat of the tournament was to throw Alaska off guard.

"One of the reasons why we decided to make an import change was we felt that by having Reynolds he will be someone Alaska wouldn't know much about," Reyes said. "We want to keep them off-balanced."

The No. 1 team entering the semi-finals for the fourth straight conference, though, still had some breaks going its way.

Cyrus Baguio did not suit up for the Aces, a victim of an inadvertent fall from teammate Mark Borboran during a workout also Thursday that caused him a knee injury.

"We were lucky in a couple of instances. We shot very well tonight and Alaska played without Cyrus," said Reyes.

Fonacier finished with 21 points, Reyes had 20, and Reynolds added 18. Kelly Williams collected 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Jimmy Alapag flicked 12 assists and scored nine points - all coming from rainbow country.

Jason Forte registered a second straight 20-20 with his 22 points and 20 rebounds for Alaska, which saw its three-game winning streak_snapped to drop to 5-4 (win-loss).

B-Meg overcame, meantime, overcame a conference-best 41-point performance by Arizona Reid, fighting back from a 17-point third_quarter deficit to practically boot Rain or Shine out of the Finals race with a 99-98 victory later in the night.

PJ Simon connected on a jumper with 21.7 seconds left to play, and the Llamados forced Reid to launch a difficult shot from the right quarter-court in the dying seconds as B-Meg escaped with the tight win, its fifth in nine games.

It was a brilliant night for Reid in terms of individual accomplishment, but he just missed short of carrying the Elasto Painters to a triumph in this single-round semi-finals. Rain or Shine now is left with no other option but to sweep its remaining four games to have a crack at a championship berth through a playoff against the No. 2 ball club after the semis.

"That wasn't us playing in the first half," said B-Meg coach Jorge Gallent. "It's really good we didn't give up."

B-Meg trailed by as large as 68-45 with 6:29 left in the third period. Teams made of soft character would simply fall by the wayside by then, but not the Llamados, who unloaded a 26-7 blast since that gap to come to within 75-71 entering the final period.

James Yap shot 10-of-14 from the field to end up with 23 points, and Marc Pingris collected 11 rebounds and 10 points for the Llamados.

Reid took 42 attempts and converted 19 on top of grabbing 13 rebounds. He, however, only had a single free throw in 40 minutes.

In a related development, Arwind Santos of Petron Blaze may finally capture his first-ever Best Player of the Conference award.

In statistics released yesterday, the Boosters' utility man is showing the way in the race for the honor bestowed upon a player who had the most impact and the highest statistical points collected up until the semi-final round.

Santos is one of only two in the Top 23 players who was able to average in double figures in scoring and in rebounding aside from Marc Pingris of B-Meg. Santos normed 16.9 points and 15.6 rebounds for an average SP of 38.50.

Meralco's Sol Mercado, who dislodged Gary David as the No. 1 local scorer (21.8 points),  came in second with 34.50 SPs, and Joe Devance of B-Meg was running third with 34.13 SPs. Jason Castro was at fourth (32.50) and James Yap, the two-time MVP, fifth with 31.00 SPs.

Santos' highest individual accolade came in the Philippine Cup early this season when he was named by the PBA Press Corps as the Best_Player of the Eliminations.

Surprisingly, the Best Player of the Conference in the Commissioner's Cup - Jimmy Alapag - failed to make it to the Top 23 list, having only played six games in the eliminations.