The biggest crowd to ever watch a Philippine Basketball Association playdate showed up last night and saw a team come back from the dead.

But sadly for the 23,108 paying fans, it wasn’t Barangay Ginebra that authored a comeback to remember.

Alaska, with second-tier point guard RJ Jazul atoning for a botched defining moment at the end of regulation, nipped San Mig Coffee, 89-82 in Game 3, as the Aces moved within another victory of clinching a title series berth in the Commissioner’s Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

In front of an animated crowd that grew impatient waiting for the Gin Kings to play their own Game 3 against Talk ‘N Text, Jazul completed a three-point play and then knocked down a triple in the next Alaska offensive as the Aces raced to an 86-80 lead and were never headed, winning for the second straight game against their former coach.

It was a sweet way for Jazul to bounce back after missing what could have been the game-winning short stab at the buzzer which would have given the Aces the victory in regulation.

But it wasn’t only Jazul who stepped up.

There was also rookie Calvin Abueva, who fired up the Aces no end and engineered a strong second half surge that had the Alaska overhauling a 16-point third quarter deficit for a nip-and-tuck game in the stretch. Abueva finished with 24 points, the most by any Alaska shooter, including the insurance breakaway dunk with under 40 seconds remaining after Cyrus Baguio swatted away a triple attempt by James Yap on the other end.

Import Rober Dozier was not at his best offensively and several people, including Sonny Thoss, JV Casio and Baguio picked up the slack by scoring at least 10 points. Dozier, though, had 19 rebounds.

“It’s just another game, we can’t get too excited,” Alaska coach Luigi Trillo said. “I’ve been here (in the PBA) long enough to know that 2-1 is nothing. You can’t celebrate.

“All we did was give ourselves the opportunity to get it (Finals seat) in one of those two (remaining) games.” The fourth game of this series is slated on Saturday, and it is a schedule which San Mig coach Tim Cone feels will not serve them well, especially after losing a very close game. “The sooner we can play it, the better,” a somber Cone said. “We need to carry the emotion of this game into the next, and we want to play as soon as we can.”

Casio stepped out of the game with 4.6 seconds remaining after being slapped a very questionable foul of a shooting Denzel Bowles.

That bum call on the 5-foot-8 Casio sent the 7-foot Bowles to the free throw line, only to split his charities which made it 80-all.

It could have been a blessing in disguise for the Aces, as Trillo was left with no other choice but to go to Jazul after Casio was slapped with his final foul. Jazul did miss the potential game-winning shot in regulation, but made up for it right in the opening minute of overtime.

Ginebra trailed big late in the third quarter and wasn’t able to mount a comeback, going down, 96-80, as the Tropang Texters took a similar 2-1 lead over the Gin Kings to also move within a win of making the title series. Talk ‘N Text gambled on a smaller import in NBA D-League leading scorer Tony Mitchell and reaped the fruits for it as the Texters shot down the Kings with a fluid second half to post the lopsided win.

Vernon Macklin, the athletic 6-foot-10 import of the Kings, never got it going despite the absence of a tall man in the middle for the Texters as Talk ‘N Text went on to even outrebound Ginebra, 65-46.

Talk ‘N Text gained a major confidence boost with the win as it routed the Kings even without Jimmy Alapag and Jared Dillinger and ditching the 7-foot NBA veteran Jerome Jordan two days before the game.