San Miguel Beer and Alaska stayed shoulder-to-shoulder after Friday night and kept the race for top ranking in the PBA Philippine Cup as interesting as it could be.

The Beermen, with June Mar Fajardo again leading the way, ran roughshod over Meralco, 88-77, while the Aces had to walk the tightrope before getting past NLEX, 90-84 to stay tied for the lead at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Fajardo, the reigning MVP, fired 21 points and had 15 rebounds and the Beermen got a huge outing from rookie Ronald Pascual to break away late in the second quarter and be in cruise control the rest of the way.

And coach Leo Austria believes that one foot inside the Final Four, with their last two assignments being powerhouse Talk ‘N Text and newcomer Blackwater. They can afford to lose one and still make it as No. 2 at worst.

Finishing in the top two carries a huge advantage as it would cede the teams into the semifinals outright, with the next eight best teams to play in the two-phase quarterfinals.

The first phase would have Nos. 3-6 clashing with Nos. 7-10, needing to win just once to march on. And that is where it gets tricky as those who make the second phase will play just one match with the losers going home and the winners joining the top two teams in the Final Four.

Alaska flirted with disaster before keeping in step with the Beermen at 8-1, needing to rally from six points down inside the final 2:18 and deal the Road Warriors another painful setback.

NLEX actually enjoyed leads of as many as 15 points in the third period and was 82-76 ahead after Enrico Villanueva split his charities with 2:18 remaining.

But Dondon Hontiveros triggered the Aces’ swashbuckling finish, converting on a rare four-point play off Mark Borboran before the Alaska defense held the Road Warriors scoreless for the next 2:10.

“The only thing that (our) 8-1 record tells me is that we are playing great team defense,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said when asked of the significance of their win in the race for No. 1.

“I wish we could relax (in our final two games) but we can’t,” he said.

Alaska still has to battle Rain or Shine and then Barangay Ginebra to close out its elimination round schedule, certainly a tougher task compared to what the Beermen have for the next week or so.

Meanwhile, a gloomy development was reported at the Big Dome during the San Miguel-Meraco game when it was reported that former PBA great Avelino “Samboy” Lim collapsed during a legends’ game in a nearby coliseum.

Reports reaching the press room said that Lim, a member of the league’s 25 Greatest Players, collapsed after being relieved by Vince Hizon in a game against fellow PBA veterans just six minutes into the contest.

The game was stopped when Lim just fell unconscious on the bench with his fellow players rushing him to the Medical City Hospital where doctors have tried – and failed – to revive him more than three hours after collapsing.

Allan Caidic, his best friend from way back, and some of Lim’s siblings were already at the hospital at press time as doctors still could not find out what went wrong with the former San Miguel Beer superstar.

Lim is just 51 years old and is one of the fittest ex-superstars out there.

Calvin Abueva again gave the Aces a huge lift by doing a lot of the intangibles when Alaska fell behind. The former Rookie of the Year finished with 16 points and 19 rebounds with Hontiveros leading Alaska in scoring with 21.

Borboran dropped a career-high 22 for the Road Warriors, who are now at 3-7.