MANILA: Alaska coach Alex Compton talked like it was a close game all throughout, and that their Final Four series with GlobalPort in the PBA Philippine Cup still hangs in the balance.

With their defense unrelenting yet again and their offense clicking on all cylinders, the Aces destroyed the Batang Pier, 109-84, to move within a breath of a title series slot in the season-opening conference at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Alaska’s bench outscored its GlobalPort counterpart, 75-36, with Calvin Abueva’s 20 points leading the way, as Alaska, after taking a 107-93 beating in the series opener, has now won the last three games by an average of a shade over 21 points.

Abueva also had a night-high 13 rebounds and Alaska dominated every important statistical department to register its most lopsided victory that seemed to have all but taken the sting out of the Batang Pier.

And Compton, ever humble, tried so hard to say that GlobalPort is still in this.

“I don’t underestimate them,” Compton said of the Batang Pier as they take the first of three chances they have in wrapping this up starting with Game 5 that’s slated tomorrow at 7 p.m. also at the Big Dome in Cubao.

“I just hope that our defense stays this way,” said Compton. “If we have this same kind of defensive energy, we have a chance against any team out there.”

After allowing twin digits to three of GlobalPort’s top players, the Alaska defense held the rest to paltry numbers, downplaying how Compton and his staff have solved the Batang Pier’s high-octane offense ever since that Game 1 drubbing.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that I get to coach the guys that I coach everyday,” Compton, who lost in the Finals here last year to San Miguel Beer, said with pride. “I am proud of them, they are always committed to leaving their hearts on the floor.”

Dondon Hontiveros scored 16 points, RJ Jazul hit four triples on the way to 14 and Chris Banchero was another man to come off the bench to drill in 10 for the Aces, who also had a 25-16 advantage in assists.

Terrence Romeo, silence in the second half of Games 2 and 3, scored 12 of his 24 in the third, but his efforts still couldn’t put a dent on a 54-40 Alaska lead at halftime as the Aces entered the fourth quarter holding an 82-62 bubble.

It was a cruise the rest of the way for the Aces.

Stanley Pringle fired 16 points and had six rebounds and four assists, and Jay Washington scattered 12 for the Batang Pier, whose first semifinal stint in their young PBA lives seems very close to ending on a sour note.

“We were outhustled all game, plain and simple,” Jarencio told Arab News on the way back to his car. “We can’t come out there and play with just extra effort. We need all-out effort every game.”

Meanwhile, Rain or Shine also shoots to creep closer to the second title series slot when the Elasto Painters slug it out with defending champion San Miguel Beer in Game 4 of their separate series also at the Araneta Coliseum.

With victories in the last two games of their series, the Painters are slightly favored in their 7 p.m. setto even if they will miss the services of key men Raymond Almazan and Jericho Cruz.

Almazan will be out for the second straight game because of a right ankle sprain, while Cruz has been ruled out of Game 4 with a knee injury suffered in the last five seconds of a 111-106 Game 3 win on Saturday.

Paul Lee has rounded out to top form, considering how he played on Saturday, and, together with his band of brothers, set out to frustrate the Beermen yet again.

San Miguel coach Leo Austria voiced out his frustration late Saturday, calling his team “undisciplined” for failing to follow his instructions to go to June Mar Fajardo in a crucial offensive play while they trailed, 107-106.

Marcio Lassiter launched a running jumper in that possession that led to him giving up a flagrant foul 1 on Cruz – and the Rain or Shine guard’s injury – that ultimately sent Chris Tiu to the charity line for four straight free throws and the final score.

“I told them that frankly, we need discipline to execute everything we do in practice, because there are players who don’t have the discipline for it,” Austria told reporters, not necessarily referring to Lassiter.

But he gave the name of that player away, anyway.

“Especially our last play, which wasn’t supposed to run like that,” Austria went on.

“I told them to don’t underestimate me as a coach,” Austria said, still managing to sound calm. “I told them that I am not the kind of coach who would curse them in public, but I can also get angry.”

“I don’t want my players to think that I am abusing my authority as a coach,” he continued. “I want to be a father or a friend to them. But we lack the discipline in executing our plays. Huwag nila ako hintayin magalit at tao din lang ako.”