B-Meg Derby Ace squandered a huge 23-point advantage and gave Rain or Shine a golden chance to post another stirring come-from-behind win.

Luckily for Derby Ace, Rain or Shine blew it away.

With new import Tony Washam huffing and puffing after scoring 49 points in regulation, Derby Ace went to its locals in the extra period to hack out a 105-100 victory in their do-or-die quarterfinal showdown in the PBA Fiesta Cup Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

James Yap, playing with a swollen left eye after he was accidentally poked in Game 4, did most of the damage as he calmly made all his six free throws, including his second pair that that gave them a 100-94 lead with 44.7 ticks left.

But a Jervy Cruz jumper and a lay-up by Gabe Norwood off a steal with 30.7 ticks to go cut Derby Ace’s lead to 100-98. Derby Ace’s Raffy Reavis answered quickly as he powered his way before Norwood made his two bonus shots.

Yap, who finished with 14 points, sealed the deal with two more free throws for a 104-100 lead.

Derby Ace wrapped up their exciting series, 3-2.

B-Meg thus arranged a best-of-seven semis duel with sister team San Miguel starting on Wednesday. It will be a rematch of the previous Philippine Cup semifinals when the then-Purefoods TJ Giants beat the Beermen, 4-2, then swept Alaska in the finals.

It was indeed a good night for some paying 20,026 fans.

That’s because the Alaska Aces pulled off a similar thrilling win over the Ginebra Kings, 93-91, in the second game to arrange a semis showdown with Talk ’N Text.

Diamon Simpson and Cyrus Bagiuo came through with clutch plays with the import, left open underneath, scored on point-blank before Baguio preserving his heroics by snaring the ball from Erick Menk with a one-tenths of a second left.

The crowd roared in approval as the Kings wiped out a six-point deficit, 90-84 with 2:14 left and grabbed the lead on JayJay Helterbrand’s booming trey, 91-90, with 28.5 ticks left.

With the scored tied at 90-all and with 12 seconds to make their winning shot, Sol Mercado opted to shoot from the rainbow territory when he can drive to the basket which he did with gusto the last four quarters.

The scores:
First Game
B-MEG DERBY ACE 105 — Washam 49, Maierhofer 17, Yap R. 14, Yap J. 13, Reavis 8, Canaleta 3, Artadi 1, Simon 0, Pingris 0, Allado 0.
RAIN OR SHINE 100 — Norwood 25, Mercado 23, Nealy 12, Laure 12, Cruz 8, Arellano 6, Araña 5, Chan 3, Hrabak 3, Telan 2, Salangsang 2, Ibañes 0.
Quarters: 29-14; 58-40; 72-69; 90-90; 105-100.