MANILA — Calving “The Beast” Abueva scored a career-high 28 points, 17 of them in the second half, as the Alaska Aces clobbered the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 94-78, in Game 3 of their best-of-7 PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series Monday night at the Mall of Asia Arena. Despite being banged up by the big men of Rain or Shine, Abueva could not be contained as his energy and hustle proved to be the biggest difference in the game. Abueva also had 14 rebounds, three steals, an assist and a block as the Aces took a 2-1 lead in the series. Game 4 is set for Thursday, also at MOA. The Aces raced to an early lead and ended the first half with a 25-point advantage, 42-27, making the most of the misfiring Painters who could not get their long-range bombs to drop. The Painters ratcheted their already tough defense a notch higher in the third, resulting in numerous fouls, some of them contested. Rain or Shine head coach Yeng Guiao and center Beau Belga were thrown out after getting slapped with their second technical fouls for excessive complaining to the referees. The Painters managed to cut the Aces' lead to eight, 65-57, at the end of the third quarter. But it was all an Abueva show in the fourth quarter as the undersized 6'1” star forward scored 12 of Alaska's 29 points in that period. Veteran center Eric Menk also played solidly for Alaska, scoring 13 points while pulling down 11 rebounds. Cyrus Baguio and Jayvee Casio added 11 points apiece. Raymond Almazan led Rain or Shine off the bench with 20 points. Paul Lee scored 14 points, but shot just 3-of-10 from the field. He also had five boards. No other Rain or Shine player scored in double figures. Meanwhile, San Miguel Beer behemoth June Mar Fajardo is poised to take home another Best Player of the Conference award after leading all players in the statistical race. Fajardo, also the reigning Most Valuable Player, has 41.2 statistical points. He piled up an average of 18.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks during the eliminations where he helped the Beermen clinch the No. 1 seed and an outright seat in the semifinals against Talk N Text. At second place is Alaska's Abueva who registered 35.8 SPs. With a height of just under 6'2”, Abueva leads the league in rebounds with 13 per game, while also scoring 15.46 points and 3.31 assists per game. Completing the top five are SMB's Arwind Santos (33), Ginebra's Greg Slaughter (32.8) and SMB's Alex Cabagnot (31.7). Game Tuesday: Talk N Text Tropang Texters vs. San Miguel Beermen (Game 3, best-of-7 semifinals; SMB leads 2-0).
