MANILA: For all the firepower it packs, San Miguel Beer — according to coach Leo Austria — kept the Grand Slam dream alive by turning back its biggest challenge in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup using old-fashioned hard work.

The Beermen dug deep the whole game Wednesday night to complete a come-from-behind 103-99 conquest of sister team Star and make the Final Four of the import-spiced conference at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Trailing practically the entire game, the Beermen finally got it going on both ends in the fourth period, avoiding the ignominy of becoming the fourth No. 1 team to blow a twice-to-beat edge while keeping the Triple Crown sweep within sight.

Tyler Wilkerson scored 46 points and Marcio Lassiter tossed in all of his 17 in the first three quarters before Chris Ross came up big in the stretch to finish off the Hotshots as San Miguel advanced to face Rain or Shine in a best-of-five series.

“You all saw and it was very obvious in this game that the players refused to lose,” Austria said. “They (Beermen) know the glory of winning, and the importance of this game for us. The Grand Slam is (still) there.”

Ross made four straight points to break the game’s last tie at 99, and the San Miguel defense didn’t allow a Star score inside the final 3:18 to seal the victory and take another step closer towards winning the second of three championships for the season.

It was definitely a painful setback for the Hotshots, who led by 11 at one point and had the game under control.

But Star couldn’t buy a bucket when it needed to with import Ricardo Ratliffe and Peter June Simon, basically the men responsible for allowing the Hotshots to play with command earlier, laying big fat eggs in the final period.

Arwind Santos was also big in the fourth, shooting six of his 10, with June Mar Fajardo hitting four big points in the same span that made up for what could be considered as a sub-par night of nine markers.

San Miguel and Rain or Shine will clash in a semifinal series for the third straight conference, with the Beermen owning a mastery of the Elasto Painters, winning both with scores of 3-1 and 4-2, respectively.

That series will start on Sunday afternoon.

Marc Pingris scored 18 points and Alex Mallari had all of his 10 points in the last two quarters for the Hotshots, who joined sister team Barangay Ginebra, GlobalPort, Blackwater, Mahindra, Phoenix Petroleum and the NLEX Road Warriors in taking an early vacation.

Meanwhile, Alaska and defending champion Tropang TNT will try to complete the Final Four cast on Friday night when they clash in the rubber match of their best-of-three series also at the Big Dome in Cubao.

The Aces took this series into a decider with a close 84-81 victory on Tuesday night, and will come into the 7 p.m. contest with the momentum on their side.

That win was also the first playoff victory for the Aces in their last six playoff games, counting the last four they lost in the Philippine Cup Finals to the San Miguel Beermen just over two months ago.

“I wish we could hold such a talented team like TNT to 81 points again,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said with a wide smile on Tuesday. “It was a tremendous defensive effort on our part.”

The winner of this series will advance to clash with No. 2 Meralco in a best-of-five affair. The Bolts will be looking to make a title series for the first time in franchise history after three failed bids.