MANILA: The Air21Express fought for dear life and was rewarded with a 92-83 win against the Alaska Aces Wednesday night in the last game of the 2011 PBA Commissioner's Cup elimination round. The Express thus gained a playoffs ticket as it ended up in a three-way tie for third to fifth place with the Alaska Aces and the Barangay Ginebra Kings, all with a 5-4 win-loss slate. With the quotient system in effect, Ginebra emerged as the No. 3 seed, Alaska, No.4 and Air21, No. 5. The Talk N Text Tropang Texters (8-1) and Smart Gilas Nationals (7-2) earlier secured the first and second seeding respectively. Superior quotient also enabled the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters to take the No. 6 seed, the last playoff spot, although they ended up tied for sixth to seventh place with the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados, both with a 4-5 card. Derby Ace crashed out of the tourney with Air21's fourth straight win and fifth overall. The pair of best-of-three quarterfinals series begins on Friday with Ginebra going up against Rain or Shine while in the nightcap, Alaska will square up anew with Air21. Playing with grim determination, the Express led from start to finish and even led by as many as 18 points late in the third quarter. Alpha Bangura led the Express assault with 25 points while Dondon Hontiveros and Winnie Arboleda chipped in 18 and 17 markers respectively. LD Williams topscored for the Aces with 27 points but got little support from his teammates. In the first match of Wednesday's doubleheader at the Araneta Coliseum, the San Miguel Beermen finally gained some measure of pride, beating the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 121-117, in overtime. The 18-time champion Beermen still ended up at the bottom of the standings with a 2-7 card, their worst finish in years. David Young led all scorers with 42 points while Arwind Santos and Danny Ildefonso each chipped in 17 markers. Santos also had a game-high 14 rebounds. Alex Cabagnot added 16 points and a season-high-tying 12 assists. The loss hardly mattered for the Painters who had assured themselves of a spot in the playoffs even before the match.
