Games Wednesday (Araneta Coliseum)
5 p.m. — Alaska vs Barangay Ginebra
7:30 p.m. — Meralco vs B-Meg Derby Ace

MANILA, Philippines — Defending champion B-Meg Derby Ace and Fiesta Cup titlist Alaska Milk go for the last two semifinal berths this Wednesday when they meet separate foes in Game 2 of their best-of-three quarterfinals showdown in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Aces face the Barangay Ginebra Kings at 5 p.m., while the Llamados take on the Meralco Bolts in the second game at 7:30 p.m.

B-Meg moved within a win of making it to the Final Four after beating Meralco in double overtime, 106-97, and Alaska also took Game 1 over Ginebra, 104-101, last Friday.

Should the Llamados and the Aces prevail tonight, they will join No. 1 seed Talk ‘N Text and No. 2 San Miguel Beer in the semifinals.

The winner of the Llamados-Bolts playoff will face the Texters, while the victor in the Aces-Kings match faces the Beermen in separate bestof- seven Final Four affair.

The Kings will be hard pressed to level the series since their top players, Erik Menk and Jayjay Helterbrand, two former Most Valuable Players, remain doubtful starters because of injuries.

“Obviously, their absence (in Game 1) impacted the play of Ginebra and gave us an edge,” Alaska coach Tim Cone said. “Hopefully we can work on the momentum we had established with the first game win.”

“Needless to say, we’d like to take care of business now and avoid a deciding Game 3,” Cone said.

Despite the possible absence of Menk (Achilles strain) and Helterbrand (knee strain), Ginebra coach Jong Uichico is unfazed.

He said they are confident of pushing the series to a deciding Game 3 on Friday with the help of other mainstays in former two-time MVP Willie Miller, Mark Caguioa, Rudy Hatfield and Ronald Tubid.

Like Cone, B-Meg coach George Gallent is eager to close out their own series tonight.

“We have to play aggressive basketball for 48 minutes, limit the three big men (Mark Isip, Gabby Espinas and Hans Thiele) from scoring in the paint,” said Gallent, who faces Ryan Gregorio, the former coach of his team.

But Gregorio is not ready to raise the white flag just yet.

“We are staying on course. We’re confident in the fact that we have significantly narrowed the gap between an elite team and our team,” Gregorio said of his Bolts, a new team.

PJ Simon and James Yap are expected to be at the forefront of the B-Meg’s scoring attack.

The Tropang Texters and the Beermen, holding twice-to-beat advantages in the quarters, advanced to the semis by eliminating the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 107-92, and the Air21 Express, 97-75, respectively.

By WAYLON GALVEZ