Maybe the ultimate compliment that Alaska got in taking a 1-0 lead over San Miguel Beer is that the Aces left Beermen coach Leo Austria clueless afterwards.

With Calvin Abueva refusing the roll over and die and leading his teammates to a comeback to remember, the Aces pounded out an 88-82 overtime victory over the Beermen for a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven series for the PBA Philippine Cup title at the Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday night.

Starved to just five first quarter points – tying the worst output in a quarter of their franchise – the Aces rallied mightily by staying composed in trying times as they frustrated San Miguel for the second time in the tournament.

Alaska stared at a 5-27 deficit after the first quarter and could have easily called it a night.

But the Aces persevered behind Abueva, who worked his tail off and practicall goaded the entire team to follow his lead as Alaska made a game out of it again by trailing by just five going into the fourth quarter.

The 6-foot-1 former Rookie of the Year, who is locked in a heated race for Best Player of the Conference honors with fellow third-year pro June Mar Fajardo, finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and a lot of the hustle that is not reflected in the stats sheets.

He also went toe-to-toe with Arwind Santos, the 2013 MVP, whom he held down to just 12 points.

“I thought we has as bad a start as we could have,” Alex Compton, the Alaska coach, told reporters. “A lot of credit (for our bad start) goes to San Miguel. We came out flat like we were the ones coming off a layoff.

“The good defense of San Miguel made us miss shots (in the first quarter),” Compton expounded. “During timeouts, I just kept reminding them (Aces) that we just have to commit and play disciplined basketball.”

The victory further put a dent on the collective psyche of the Beermen, whom they defeated in the first round, 66-63. That game had San Miguel finishing with their worst output in the tournament.

Rookie Chris Banchero finished with 16 points for the Aces, while Dondon Hontiveros rifled in 15 and JV Casio 13.

Austria came to the press room after Compton and wasn’t at all ashamed to say that he didn’t have a clue what went on out there.

“Honestly, I don’t know what happened to us,” said Austria, who couldn’t even recall the exact number of their biggest lead, which was 22.

“We were ahead by 21 and we weren’t able to maintain it,” he said. “I don’t know what happened in the second and third quarters.”

After gathering his wits somehow, Austria pointed his finger at the Alaska defense for making life difficult for them, and on their cornerstone Fajardo, who missed a crucial free throw with 8.8 seconds in regulation, which could have given them the lead.

“Maybe he was also tired already,” Austria said. “And I also did not get the games I wanted from some of my players.”

Chris Lutz paced the Beermen with 24 points, while Fajardo was held to just 14 – eight in the final three quarters and in extension – as a consistent triple team met him in the paint whenever he touched the ball.

Fajardo had 17 rebounds but was clearly fatigued during the stretch, something which Austria could probably blame on himself as he gave Fajardo just a six-minute rest the whole game despite playing with command in the first three periods.

Game 2 of this series is on Friday night also at the Big Dome in Cubao.

Interestingly, those five points by Alaska in the first period tied its fewest in a quarter. The first time it happened was in Game 1 of the All-Filipino Finals against Purefoods in 2000, when they scored five in the fourth period.

The Aces would go on to win that series under Tim Cone, and that was their last all-Filipino championship.