Barangay Ginebra inched closer to repeating a historic feat by downing Alaska Milk, 94-90, to force a knockout match in their quarterfinal series in the PBA Fiesta Conference last Friday night at the Astrodome in Pasay City.

The Kings fell behind by 11 points early in the game but showed great resolve in the last two quarters to complete another stirring come-from-behind win and tie their best-of-five series to 2-2.

The knockout match will be held this Sunday with the winner earning the right to meet No. 1 seed Talk ’N Text in the semis which will be a best-of-seven affair.

It was another disappointing defeat for Aces who appeared headed to a rousing win after leading 52-41 early in the third quarter.

But import Chris Daniels led a big third quarter windup before Ronald Tubid, JC Intal and Jayjay Helterbrand joined the scoring fray that saw the Kings take a 90-85 lead with two minutes left.

The Aces, though, made a last ditch effort as import Diamon Simpson scored off an airball by Sonny Thoss that cut the lead to 92-90, 35.6 seconds left, then swatted Enrico Villanueva's shot for a chance to either tie the game or win it on a three-pointer.

However, Joe Devance committed a crucial mistake when he was called for a travelling violation with 12.4 ticks to go as he was trying to swing the ball back to point guard LA Tenorio.

Sunday Salvacion later knocked home two freethrows off Simpson's sixth foul with 2.6 seconds remaining to seal the deal.

The Kings are hoping to become the first team in league history to rally from a 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five series on two occasions.

"We were lucky to win this game and we worked hard to force a game on Sunday," said Ginebra coach Jong Uichico, whose squad

needed to come back from a similar hole to beat TNT in the previous Philippine Cup quarterfinals.

Tubid led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points while Intal, Willie Miller and Helterbrand made 12 points apiece.

The scores:
First Game
GINEBRA 94 — Tubid 13, Intal 12, Miller 12, Helterbrand 12, Daniels 10, Menk 9, Cortez 8, Villanueva 7, Hatfield 5, Salvacion 4, Caguioa 2.
ALASKA 90 — Simpson 25, Tenorio 14, Baguio 14, Devance 11, Thoss 11, Hugnatan 8, dela Cruz 5, Borboran 2, Eman 0, Fonacier 0.
Quarters: 17-23; 41-46; 69-68; 94-90.