MANILA : Alex Compton prepared his Alaska crew well enough for the first game of their quarterfinal series with defending champion Star in the PBA Governors’ Cup on Wednesday night.

He didn't know that it was a talk at halftime that will get his Aces going.

The Aces roared back from 18 points down in the first half after quitting of being scared, rallying hard in the final two quarters to pound out a 97-91 win and grab the proverbial head start in their best-of-five Final Four playoffs at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

“We looked like we were a little scared of our kuya (big brother), and I couldn’t take that,” Compton said in baring his halftime talk to a team that trailed the talent-laden Hotshots by 15 at the end of the first quarter.

“I thought we showed them too much respect,” he went on. “Don’t get me wrong, our first building block is our honor — honoring our teammates, referees, the fans, the opponents, everyone.

“I got a tough group of guys that I coach everyday, a special group of guys that doesn’t give up till the end,” Compton said. “But in the first half, that wasn’t our group. I just wanted to see our identity asserted in the second half.”

Romeo Travis then took the lead on the floor for Compton, shooting 11 points in the third period before the rest of the team joined in as Alaska led for the first time late in the quarter, 68-67, before settling for a tied game at 70 entering the fourth.

The poise of the Aces then surfaced in the stretch and Compton got a lot of players helping out Travis with JV Casio, RJ Jazul, Dondon Hontiveros and Chris Banchero taking their turns in hurting the Hotshots.

“It’s their heart and unity that has gotten us this far,” Compton said. “I just love coaching these guys.”

The Aces scored the first seven points of the fourth period and were never headed, as they played with a lot of composure compared to the Hotshots, who looked in disarray late in the game with several miscues.

The last of those errors came when Mark Barroca flicked a pass to Marqus Blakely who was looking in another direction, resulting in a steal by Calvin Abueva who threw an outlet pass to Casio for a left-handed layup for 92-84 with 2:23 to go.

Four straight free throws by Barroca in making up for that error shoved the Hotshots within striking distance again, 92-88, only for Jazul to score on a layup off a Travis offensive rebound and for Cyrus Baguio to split his free throws for 95-88 with time down to just 55 seconds.

James Yap, the former two-time MVP, hit 10 points in the first half as the Hotshots opened up a 41-23 lead. His next basket would come at the final 43.8 mark, a triple that hardly made a dent on the control Alaska was showing.

Travis finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds and Casio scattered 18 in a brillant quarterbacking effort, with Banchero winding up with 10 points, six of them coming in the fourth, including the first four of the quarter.

Blakely paced the Hotshots with 23 and Peter June Simon added 16 as Star would now need to win three of the last four games to keep their reign alive. Star lost the first two of three titles they won in a Grand Slam last season, and this is the deepest place they’ve gone in a playoff this season.

Compton was double ecstatic after the win, since it came a day after his wife gave birth to a girl they will name Annika.

"No, we didn't name her Star, that's terrible," Compton said with a laugh.

Meanwhile, No. 2 San Miguel Beer and the third-ranked Rain or Shine Elasto Painters start their side of the semifinals Thursday night also at the storied Big Dome.

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. with the Beermen looking to put a stop to an impressive seven-game winning streak by the Painters.

June Mar Fajardo and Arizona Reid will be the main men for San Miguel, while Wendell McKines will try to sustain a great individual effort that has helped the Painters get this far.