“It’s not easy matching up with San Miguel. It’s thrice-to-beat to try to extend and win the series.

A rejuvenated Alaska squad shoots for the equalizer against reigning champion San Miguel Beer tonight in Game Four of their Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup best-of-five semi-final series at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

An Aces win would forge a rubber match for the Finals slot, a scenario which San Miguel, hands down the strongest team of this batch which is seeking a grand slam, would rather not gamble on.

The match is set at 6:30 p.m. with the Aces looking to tie the series at 2-2 to keep its Finals return hopes alive after two long years since their last championship appearance in 2016.

On brink of elimination with a 0-2 deficit heading into Game Three on Friday, the undeterred Alaska threw everything they had with an emphatic 125-101 victory over the stunned Beermen that pulled them out of getting swept.

That was despite the limited minutes given to hobbling import Diamon Simpson who fought through a sprained ankle injury he sustained in Game Two.

Undermanned and down big in the series, Alaska mentor Alex Compton could not be any prouder of his wards, saying: “I love my guys. They just don’t give up being down 0-2 against the best team in the league,” he said.

“I asked them to fight to the last. And they are still fighting harder,” Compton said.

But the job is far from finished and Compton reminded his wards that all they have achieved so far was win one game.

And San Miguel is expected to come back stronger.

“We lived to fight another day. We got one and we’ll have another chance to get another one today. That’s all you can ask for,” he added.

Already without Calvin Abueva (indefinite team suspension) and Chris Banchero (leave due to family reason), the Aces now will come into Game Four with an injured Simpson.

Add the thrice-to-beat advantage of the Beermen owing to an early 2-0 lead, Compton is aware that the Aces need to play a near-perfect game in order for them to duplicate a victory and force a winner-take-all Game Five.

“It’s not easy matching up with San Miguel. It’s thrice-to-beat to try to extend and win the series,” he said.

“We have to play great in order to beat San Miguel. Let’s see today,” Compton said.

Compton will be banking on his top soldier Vic Manuel, who inflicted the heaviest damage on the Beermen in Game Three with his 24 points, six rebounds and three steals in just 17 minutes of action.

Getting inspiration from his dream of bringing back Alaska to Finals after their championship in 2010, Simpson is expected to be in a better shape as he still put up a decent 21 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks in Game Three before taking a rest late in Game Three.

On the other hand, the Beermen are keen on finishing off the series for good to avoid figuring in do-or-die Game Five where their title retention bid would be at a major risk.

However, head coach Leo Austria will need more than just Renaldo Balman and June Mar Fajardo to finish the job.

While import Balkman and Fajardo got their usual numbers with 28 and 18 points, respectively in Game three, SMB lost numbers from the fearsome foursome combo of Alex Cabagnot, Arwind Santos, Marcio Lassiter and Chris Ross who were all limited to single digits.

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