MANILA: Rain or Shine and Alaska pulled out contrasting wins over separate foes Wednesday night and sealed their slots in the Final Four of the PBA Governors’ Cup.

And what’s interesting about their coming best-of-five matchup is that Rain or Shine has good memories of its only clash in this tournament with the Aces, who would rather forget everything that happened that gory night three weeks ago.

“Hopefully, they’ll have some mercy on us,” Alaska coach Alex Compton joked, moments after finalizing his showdown with the Elasto Painters after taking out Barangay Ginebra, 92-81, in their side of the quarterfinals at the Araneta Coliseum.

Rain or Shine, which beat the Aces to a pulp, 123-72, in the elimination round, actually advanced first after taking Air21 to school to score a 111-90 bombardment in the first game.

The Elasto Painters have now won their last six games and will definitely be the favorites coming into their series with the Aces starting Friday at 8 p.m. also at the Big Dome in Cubao.

Talk ‘N Text and San Mig Coffee make up the other semifinal bracket, with Game 1 of that series to start Thursday night also at 8 p.m.

Rain or Shine has bamboozled five of their last six foes, underscoring the fine form that the Painters are in. And it all started with that ripping of the Aces, who, ironically enough, are crediting Rain or Shine for giving them their wake-up call.

The Aces have also won four straight now, and coach Alex Compton acknowledged the break that came their way against Ginebra when import Zach Mason slipped while going for a drive in the second quarter to injure his right knee.

Ginebra played with command for most of the first half, using a hot start to build leads of as many as 12 before disaster struck. And the Gin Kings were never the same after Mason was literally helped back into the team dugout.

JV Casio scored 18 points highlighted by two crucial triples in the fourth period, the last coming when the Kings had come within 77-81.

And after Ginebra failed to score on the other end, the veteran Dondon Hontiveros knocked down his fourth triple of the night to again give the Aces a twin-digit spread, 87-77, going into the final 2:26.

“I think the big story of the game — and I feel bad for Ginebra — was when their import went down. It was unfortunate for them,” Compton, who is calling the shots in just his eighth game after taking over from the fired Luigi Trillo, said.

“They still played hard — their coaches, management and fans should be proud of them,” he continued. “They played without an import for (the last) 33 minutes.”

With emotions running high, there were several instances when fights nearly erupted, with even LA Tenorio charging at Alaska import Henry Walker after what the Ginebra guard thought was a deliberate foul.

Gabby Espinas of Alaska and Jay-R Reyes also had to be separated early in the game after getting entangled in a rebound play that left the Ginebra center with a slight mouse below the left eye.

Even Cyrus Baguio, usually the coolest person on the floor, retaliated on Eman Monfort after getting hit in the face with an elbow. Monfort lay for several seconds on the floor after getting a clothesline from Baguio, who was whistled for a flagrant foul penalty 1 violation.

Meanwhile, Air21 on Wednesday also broke its silence on its reported sale to NLEX, with team governor Lito Alvarez finally admitting that “we are in deep negotiations with them (NLEX management for the sale of Air21).”

NLEX, which did not pay the P100 million franchise fee of an expansion ballclub earlier this week, is seeking to buy an existing franchise to have a formidable core for the coming season.