Hotshots, Bolts face Texters, Painters in Final 4

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion Purefoods and Meralco swept past Alaska Milk and NLEX in their respective quarterfinals showdowns and joined Talk n Text and Rain or Shine in the Final Four of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

The Hotshots broke away in the third quarter then fended off an Alaska rally to pull off a 96-89 win while the Bolts waged a big fightback from 20 points down to beat the Road Warriors, 91-85, in overtime.

“It certainly got scary in the end. It’s a big relief to get through the quarterfinals against a tough opponent like Alaska,” said coach Tim Cone whose Purefoods team advanced to the best-of-five semis against Talk n Text.

“I thought my team played with lots of guts in the second half. It’s a gutsy performance and it’s nice to be in the semis,” said coach Norman Black after his Meralco squad arranged a separate semis duel with Rain or Shine.

The Elasto Painters and the Bolts start their Final Four faceoff at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Big Dome while the Hotshots and the Texters play  Game One of their battle Wednesday at the same venue.

Purefoods showed great staying power in booting out Alaska while Meralco showed a big fighting heart in rallying from 20 points down to ease out NLEX.

“We made the adjustments at the half and we cut down their points in the second half,” said Black, steering Meralco to the semis in his second conference with the team.

“Rain or Shine was saying they had the toughest battle in the quarterfinals, but we had our own tough battle. Alaska showed their character. Though we led by 20, they didn’t quit. They were hard to stop down the stretch,” Cone said.

The Aces got to within four, 84-88, then missed crucial shots, allowing the Hotshots to regroup and eventually score a follow-up on their dominant wire-to-wire 120-86 win in Game One Friday.