MANILA: Alaska can now totally put memories of that 51-point loss to Rain or Shine behind after grinding out a win that carried more significance.

With Henry Walker taking over on both ends in the stretch, the Aces on Friday night nipped Rain or Shine, 97-93, to draw first blood in their best-of-five Final Four series in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Walker made the shots that Alaska needed and then broke up a crucial inbound by the Painters when the game hung in the balance as Alaska, which lost, 72-123 in the only time they met in the elimination round, now has momentum going into Sunday’s Game 2.

“We’re playing well. But in this game, there’s no question that Henry carried us,” rookie Alaska coach Alex Compton said. “Obviously, Henry was great down the stretch. Ultimately in the fourth quarter, we got some stops and Henry just took over for us.”

Alaska held the Painters scoreless in the final 3:59, easily erasing an 88-93 deficit after Rain or Shine had some very uncharacteristic turnovers — the last being Walker picking Paul Lee’s inbounds pass to Jeff Chan that led to Walker’s game-clinching two free throws with three seconds left for the final count.

Rain or Shine had six of its 15 turnovers in the final quarter, with Lee having two of his six blunders inside the final 1:30, with the first of those giving the Aces the chance to tie the game for the last time at 93 after a Vic Manuel jumper with 1:24 to go.

Compton, though, knows that winning the series-opener is just one of three that they have to win. And even if they have avenged that 51-point shellacking, wants to keep his players’ feet on the ground.

“I am young at this job, but I have been around long enough to know that you cannot win a series after just one (won) game,” Compton, calling the shots for just the ninth game since being tapped to replace the fired Luigi Trillo, said.

“Hopefully, we can build on this and try to foresee the adjustments coach Yeng will make (for Game 2),” he added.

Walker shot 14 of his 31 points in the final frame, with his difficult fallaway under heavy pressure from Jireh Ibanes shoving the Aces to the lead to stay, 95-93, going into the final 49 seconds.

The winner of this best-of-five series will advance to face the survivor of the Talk ‘N Text-San Mig Coffee match-up for the championship. The Mixers, the defending champions, lead that one, 1-0.

San Mig guns for a commanding 2-0 lead Saturday afternoon to virtually write the Tropang Texters off and take yet another step closer to the league’s fifth Grand Slam.

“There’s no question about it, we need to win Game 2,” Talk ‘N Text coach Norman Black said. “We need to play intense for the whole 48 minutes and protect the shaded lane.”

San Mig rallied for a 92-88 Game 1 win on Thursday by holding Talk ‘N Text scoreless for a total of eight minutes in the fourth quarter and in extension as the Texters were sloppy in executing their offense with Jimmy Alapag not in the five on the court in the stretch.