MANILA, Philippines – Only 48 minutes of relentless and solid game separate Talk n Text from a piece of history and an end to a two-year title drought.

The Tropang Texters have moved halfway through a self-imposed goal of playing 96 minutes of near-flawless basketball and now need to follow it up with another 48-minute demolition job to beat San Miguel Beer and claim the 2010-11 PBA Philippine Cup championship.

“We’ve talked about getting ready to play 96 minutes of good basketball. We’ve got 50 percent of the job done and we’re determined to do the other half Friday,” said Reyes following the Texters’ decisive 99-77 win in Game Five for a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series Wednesday night.

The Texters go for all the marbles in Game Six at 7 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum.

If ever, the Smart-PLDT franchise will capture its third all-Filipino crown after a two-year slump while Reyes will become the first coach in league history to have at least two titles each with three different teams.

Reyes owns the distinction as the first coach to win all-Filipino crowns with three different teams (Coney Island in 1993, Coca-Cola in 2002 and Talk n Text in 2009).

The Texters are raring to win the series in Game Six, wary of playing the Beermen in a deciding Game Seven.

But the Beermen vow to mount a fightback to force a winner-take-all showdown.

“We’ve overhauled a 0-2 deficit in the series. We’ve won two straight games and I think we can do it again,” said SMB coach Ato Agustin.

If they fail, the Beermen settle for a second-place finish for the second straight conference. They bowed to the Alaska Milk Aces, 2-4, in the last Fiesta Conference finals.

But history seems kind on San Miguel. For the record, the last three teams to trail 2-3 after a 2-2 tie managed to rally and win.

“We’re still very much alive and we’re still hopeful we can win. It’s doable,” said Agustin.

The rookie SMB coach believed they would regroup and wage a big fight in Game Six.

The Texters torched the Beermen with a fiery shooting in the last three quarters in fashioning out the rout Wednesday.

Talk n Text checked a two-game slide with Reyes making key adjustments that included playing ace point guard Jimmy Alapag off the bench.

The Texters outran and outgunned the Beermen with Reyes playing guards Alapag, Jason Castro and Ryan Reyes at the same time for virtually the entire run of the encounter.

Alapag churned out a near triple-double with 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds against taller rugged defenders, including Arwind Santos.

Agustin said their problem Wednesday was that they failed to match the high level of intensity unleashed by the Texters.

“We relaxed after a good start and never recovered. We failed to keep in step with them as they stepped up the pace,” said Agustin.

Nelson Beltran, Philippine Star