The Rain or Shine Elasto Painters silenced the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados' big guns with their tenacious defense to win, 79-69, Sunday night at the Cuneta Astrodome in Game 2 of their PBA Fiesta Conference quarterfinals. The Painters thus leveled their best-of-five series with the Llamados at 1-1. Once again, Sol Mercado led the Painters with 19 points on top of six rebounds and seven assists. So stifling was the Rain or Shine defense that it limited Derby Ace to just 27 percent shooting. Typifying the Painters' defensive toughness was Gabe Norwood who jumped and grabbed the ball from a driving Rico Maierhofer with 4:36 left in the game and with Rain or Shine ahead by four points, 70-66. After James Yap split his charities, Mercado split the lane and was fouled as he drilled an acrobatic jumper for a three-point play that pushed the Painters' lead to six, 73-67, with 1:42 left. Mercado then scored again on a driving layup that virtually sealed the outcome of the game. James Yap led Derby Ace with 20 points but found himself handcuffed in the fourth quarter by the leech-like Painters' defense. In the other quarterfinals Game 2, the Alaska Aces handed the Barangay Ginebra Kings another devastating loss, 84-82, to take a 2-0 lead in their series. Joe De Vance scored the winning shot with 10.3 seconds left that broke an 82-all deadlock. De Vance actually scored Alaska's last six points and finished with 19 points. Ginebra still had a chance to tie or win the game but with a three-pointer but Sunday Salvacion's open three-pointer rimmed out as the final buzzer sounded to the dismay of the Kings' die-hard fans. Alaska can wrap up the series with another win on Wednesday to advance into a semifinals duel with the Talk N Next Tropang Texters. Alaska's Diamon Simpson led all scorers with 30 points and 17 rebounds. Cyrus Baguio chipped in with 16 while LA Tenorio had 11 assists and seven rebounds. Chris Daniels led the Kings with 19 points and 18 rebounds but sorely missed the support of his local teammates.
