With the stakes so high, Alaska dismantled San Miguel Beer on Wednesday night after surviving the best effort the most dominating big man in the PBA today had to offer.

The Aces came up with an 8-0 spurt in a 48-second span during the most critical time and brought down mighty San Miguel Beer, 103-97, to stay alive in the hunt for an automatic Final Four berth in the Philippine Cup playoffs at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Alaska fought with total team effort on both ends and put to naught the gallant 42-point, 19-rebound performance of June Mar Fajardo as the Aces forged a three-way tie for the lead with their victims and Rain or Shine and practically handed top-ranking to the Elasto Painters.

Rain or Shine was on the floor first and needed a big finishing kick before disposing of ousted Meralco, 97-87, to now have what seems to be the clearer path to No. 1 and the first outright semifinal slot in the season-opening conference.

The Elasto Painters and the Aces both have games left, against NLEX and Barako Bull, respectively on Saturday, with wins sealing that triple tie and giving Rain or Shine No. 1 after having beaten both Alaska and San Miguel Beer in the eliminations.

Should that happen, the Aces and the Beermen will go at it one more time on Dec. 23 for the right to join the Painters in a longer Christmas break, with the semifinals to happen on Jan. 4 at the earliest.

Alaska-San Miguel was a classic, with the game hanging in the balance until that telling run sparked by a Vic Manuel dunk in front of the 6-foot-10 Fajardo.

Calvin Abueva was also big all night, making up for a crucial error that resulted in San Miguel taking a 94-93 lead with a Chris Lutz jumper with 1:22 to go before feeding Manuel for that slam.

Abueva also plucked down the rebound after an Arwind Santos miss on the other end, landing hard on his back after battling it out for the board with Fajardo and then making two free throws with 49.8 remaining for 97-94.

Santos, who scored 30 points in an emphatic win against Talk ‘N Text last week, muffed another triple attempt that resulted in JV Casio trooping to the line once again with 33.1 remaining, 99-94.

Cyrus Baguio then put the game away after collaring a long rebound after an Alex Cabagnot miss from three-point range with two free throws off Brian Heruela.

“We knew this game was going to be tough,” Alaska coach Alex Compton told reporters.

Alaska actually enjoyed a 12-point lead, 76-64, early in the fourth period and seemed ready to cruise the rest of the way, only for Fajardo to lead the Beermen in a courageous fightback with 12 of his total happening in the payoff frame.

“There was zero feeling of comfort even if we were up big,” Compton said. “When you are playing against top teams like that, a lead is safe only when the game is over.”

Fajardo’s performance was the most overpowering by a local since the ageless Asi Taulava scored 49 and hauled down 21 rebounds for Talk ‘N Text in 2003.

He scored 15 in the third period and kept the Beermen in the game as the Aces seemed to have dialed in starting the second half after dropping 34 points in the third frame for a 74-64 lead going into the fourth.

“As you guys can tell, I obviously haven’t figured out how to stop him,” Compton said of Fajardo.

Abueva was named the game’s Best Player after finishing with 17 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and a lot of intangibles. Sonny Thoss paced all Alaska shooters with 18 with Chris Banchero shooting 17 and Manuel winding up with 12.

Cabagnot finished with 19 points and Santos 10 for the Beermen, who could only avoid going into a playoff in the event that either Rain or Shine or Alaska loses on Saturday.

Raymond Almazan chalked up career-highs with 21 points and 17 rebounds and Jeff Chan finished with 24 after shooting 10 in the fourth for the Painters, who have stood out even with superstar point guard Paul Lee yet to see action this season.