San Miguel Beer is now within arm's reach of returning back to the PBA Fiesta Cup Finals.

Dondon Hontiveros fired three three-pointers in the second half, the last of which put the fight out of Derby Ace as the Beermen claimed Game 4 Wednesday night, 83-75, to take a commanding lead in their best-of-seven semifinals series at the Astrodome.

Gabe Freeman bucked another foul trouble stint by coming through with a monster double-double of 22 points and a conference-high 24 rebounds, Hontiveros added 12 and Arwind Santos also came through with the same scoring output, while putting the clamps anew on Derby Ace import Tony Washam in the win that gave the defending champions a 3-1 lead in the series.

The Beermen could clinch the first Finals seat and a second straight Fiesta Cup championship appearance with another victory in Game 4 set this Friday at the Araneta Coliseum.

"We want to finish it off on Friday," stressed Santos, who also had five rebounds and two assists in between holding Washam to only 12 markers - 14 short of his 26-point per game average.

Hontiveros' outside sniping in the second half allowed the Beermen to break free from a tight ballgame. His six-point cluster on two three-pointers gave the defending champions their first double digit spread at 58-48 late in the third period.

The Llamados managed to come within 58-54 at the end of the quarter, but the Beermen opened up the pivotal fourth with a 10-2 run for 68-56 lead on a strong drive to the basket by Joseph Yeo.

A putback by Santos off a Yeo missed gave San Miguel its biggest lead of the game, 75-61.

But the Llamados weren't finished yet.

Roger Yap capped a 10-0 blast by connecting on his final trey for the game as Derby Ace chopped the deficit to 75-71 with 2:39 to go.

The run proved to be the final stand of the Llamados though, as Hontiveros buried the killer three-pointer a minute later, dashing any hopes of a dramatic, last-minute comeback by Derby Ace.

The Yap boys - James and Roger - topscored with 18 and 15 points, respectively, in a losing cause for the Llamados.

Washam, who just two weeks ago fired a conference-high 49 points in the deciding game of the Llamados' quarterfinals series with Rain or Shine, failed to get on track this time, going just 2-of-19 from the floor, including a 1-of-16 stint from the two-point zone.

Halftime ended at 36-34 after Jay Washington scored underneath to break the deadlock with eight-tenths of a second left in the second period.

James Yap earlier connected on a long jumper to tie the game at 34, finishing the first half already with 11 points to lead the Llamados. - RCJ, GMANews.TV

Scores:

San Miguel 83– Freeman 22, Santos 12, Hontiveros 12, Washington 11, Yeo 7, Cabagnot 7, Ildefonso 7, Racela 3, Villanueva 2, Pena 0.

Derby Ace 75 – Yap J. 18, Yap R. 15, Washam 12, Pingris 8, Maierhofer 6, Simon 6, Reavis 4, Canaleta 3, Artadi 2, Allado 1.

Quarter scores:18-17, 36-34, 58-54, 83-75

With a standby replacement watching at the sidelines, import Shawn Daniels played with enough urgency for Talk 'N Text in Game 4 of its PBA Fiesta Cup semifinals series with Alaska.

The end result? Daniels scored a team-high 13 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and outplayed counterpart Diamon Simpson in an 83-62 Tropang Texters blowout win of the Aces on Wednesday to level their best-of-seven affair at 2-2.

The burly Talk 'N Text import did his thing at the Astrodome while Omar Shariff Sneed watched Game 4 of the series behind the Texters bench.

But unlike his four point, nine rebound effort in TNT's 90-86 Game 3 loss, Daniels this time provided the spark lacking in his game and led the Tropang Texters' first half breakaway that allowed them to control the tempo of the match.

"I told him (Daniels) that we are getting someone to serve as his back-up because of his deteriorating performance," said Talk 'N Text coach Chot Reyes of his conversation with Daniels. "He better play like his life depended on it. So with this win, I'm now faced with a good problem. To be honest, I don't know what to do."

The European League veteran Sneed, a former player of Smart-Gilas Pilipinas coach Rajko Toroman in Belgium, arrived in Manila on Tuesday from the U.S.

He is coming off a stint in Israel, playing for the Ironi Ashkelon ballclub where he averaged 15.3 points per game.

Reyes said he'll test Sneed during Thursday's practice and then decide from there whether he'll replace Daniels or not.

"We brought him to give us options," said Reyes. "Things are so fluid at this point and we're really not sure. That's basketball. That's the way of life here in the PBA."

With Daniels holding his own against Simpson, who torched him and the rest of the Tropang Texters the last time with 31points and 20 rebounds, the Fiesta Cup's top seeded team returned to its old deadly form and held the Aces to their lowest output in the last nine conferences.

The Aces' final score also ended up as the league's lowest in the past three tournaments.

Simpson finished with only 12 points and 14 rebounds. He limped his way with only nine field goals for the night and was held without a free throw after going 15-of-17 from the foul line in Game 3, almost half of Alaska's 31-of-34 performance from the same spot.

"The important thing is that Shawn stepped up and we limited their free throws," said Reyes.

The Tropang Texters led by as many as 24 points, 67-43, following nine straight points from Jason Castro, who shared scoring honors with Daniels (13).

Samigue Eman, playing his best game of the conference for the Aces, was the only local to finish in double figures for Alaska with 11 points, while key players Cyrus Baguio, Joe DeVance and LA Tenorio combined for 20 points on 8-of-27 shooting from the field. - JVP, GMANews.TV

Scores:

Talk 'N Text 83 - Castro 13, Daniels 13, Cardona 11, Alapag 10, Yee 8, De Ocampo 8, Carey 8, Dillinger 5, Williams 5, Quinahan 2.

Alaska 62 - Simpson 12, Eman 11, Baguio 7, Dela Cruz 7, De Vance 6, Tenorio 6, Borboran 5, Thoss 5, Hugnatan 2, Fonacier 1, Robinson 0, Cariaso 0.

Quarterscores: 20-18, 46-33, 69-45, 83-62

Talk n Text coach Chot Reyes hopes newly wed Macmac Cardona gets his focus back on the job by tomorrow as they play the Alaska Milk Aces in a crucial game with Ryan Reyes a doubtful starter.

"It's very doubtful that Ryan can play," said the Talk n Text mentor of his prized guard who hurt his right leg in a collision with Joe De Vance towards the end of the third game of their PBA Fiesta Conference best-of-seven semifinal showdown at the Araneta Coliseum Sunday.

De Vance rammed into Reyes, causing the Talk n Text player to hyperextend his leg and, thus, miss the closing minutes of the match won by Alaska.

The Aces, behind LA Tenorio's key plays at the finish, topped the Tropang Texters, 90-86, Sunday to gain the 2-1 lead in the series.

After the game, Reyes was rushed to the Makati Medical Center for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure.

"We'll know tomorrow (today) if he can play. But it's really doubtful," said the TnT coach.

Reyes, among a handful of pro players being considered to reinforce the Smart Gilas team for the coming Asian Games, was going great guns when he sustained the injury.

He had churned out 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals before the collision.

"He was playing very well. We broke down upon his exit," said the older Reyes.

"If he can't play, Macmac should regain his fire for us to compete with Alaska," the TnT coach also said. "Macmac was missing in Game Three."

Cardona groped for form in his first game after his wedding Friday, scoring only six points on 3-of-6 shooting Sunday.

Ranidel de Ocampo paced the Texters with 18 points but incurred a crucial offensive foul that hastened their downfall.

The Texters were down by only two, 84-86, when De Ocampo charged into Reynel Hugnatan with 26 seconds to go.

Kelly Williams was forced to give up a foul 11 seconds later, and Tenorio sank two charities to make it 88-84.

Alaska coach Tim Cone said it's a big win for them going to a two-day break.

"We have a chance to refresh and play them on even terms Wednesday. It would've been a lot difficult had we lost the game," said Cone. - www.philstar.com