The Alaska Aces choked the Barangay Ginebra Kings, 76-72, Friday night at the Araneta Coliseum to take Game 1 of their PBA Fiesta Conference best-of-five quarterfinals series. Diamon Simpson topscored with 20 points while grabbing 22 rebounds as the Aces exploited their size advantage against the smaller though speedier Kings. Cyrus Baguio chipped in with 14 points, five rebounds and six assists, earning for him the Best Player of the Game award, against his former team. Chris Daniels led Ginebra with 16 points and 11 rebounds in a game where the Kings played catch-up for most parts of the tightly fought game. The Kings grabbed the lead, 59-56, at the end of the third quarter, even padding their lead by five, 67-62, at the start of the final canto. The Aces then launched a 6-0 run to grab the lead. Mike Cortez hit a triple to take back the lead for Ginebra but the Aces scored two quick baskets to once again take the driver's seat, 72-70. After a Mark Caguioa basket tied the game for the last time, the Aces then scored four unanswered points. The Kings had several chances to tie the game or even take the lead but failed to buy a basket when they needed it the most. In the other quarterfinal duel, James Yap exploded for a conference-high 31 points to lead the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados to a pulsating 108-102 Game 1 victory against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. Once again shaking off his well publicized marital woes with TV celebrity and presidential sister Kris Aquino, Yap sizzled all game long as he nailed 12 of 18 shots. However, the Llamados had to dodge a bullet as the Painters nearly razed a double-digit Derby Ace in the last two minutes of the game. Gabe Norwood and Rod Nealy rained down a flurry of three-point shots as the Painters cut the Llamados' lead to 102-103, with 82 second left. The Painters had a chance to take the lead but Nealy's ill-advised three-point shot missed its mark. P.J. Simon then drilled a three-pointer with 15.1 seconds remaining to seal the game for the Llamados. Simon scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth as the Llamados moved to within two wins of advancing to the Final Four. Interestingly, Derby Ace, formerly Purefoods, also figured in a quarterfinals series with Rain or Shine in the previous conference. Purefoods also won Game 1 of that series which they eventually took after five games. In that Game 1 win, James Yap also scored 31 points.
