STAYING alive is the theme of the day as Barangay Ginebra and NLEX defeated their respective quarterfinal opponents to send their best-of-three showdowns in the PBA Philippine Cup into a deciding game.

Ginebra outsteadied Meralco, 95-87, while NLEX survived Magnolia Chicken Timplados, 90-77, in a pair of tensely-fought matches at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

The third and deciding game in the two quarterfinal matches will be played at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday with the winner of the Ginebra-Meralco encounter advancing to play top seed San Miguel Beer and the victor of the NLEX-Magnolia duel moving on to play No. 2 seed TNT in the semis.

Japeth Aguilar finished with personal conference-high a 25 points, Christian Standhardinger added 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, LA Tenorio contributed 13 and Scottie Thompson had 11 points, nine assists and six rebounds for Ginebra, which avenged its 82-93 setback to Meralco in the best-of-three series opener last Sunday.

Ginebra coach Tim Cone said he expects another exciting and physical battle on Sunday

“We got to put up another performance like we did today,” said Cone in an interview posted at the official PBA website.

“They’re trying to do something they haven’t done against us and we know that and we have so much respect for them. They’re showing their desire with the way they’re coming out to play physically, diving all over the floor. (Cliff) Hodge is throwing his body everywhere, just showing that great desire they have,” explained Cone.

“We’re just trying to match it, match their physicality and for us to come out and play well in Game 3 we just have to continue to match their physicality. That’s really the name of the game in this series. It’s not a series for young men or boys. This is a series for men.”

Hodge finished with 25 points in a losing effort in a game that featured 10 deadlocks and 19 lead changes.

Later, Kevin Alas exploded with a career-high 30 points to help NLEX beat Magnolia and force a deciding third game.

The scores:

First game

Ginebra (94) – J.Aguilar 25, Standhardinger 15, Tenorio 13, Thompson 11, Pringle 9, Chan 8, Pinto 7, Caperal 4, Mariano 2.
Meralco (87) – Hodge 25, Maliksi 14, Pasaol 14, Black 9, Newsome 8, Pascual 3, Banchero 2, Quinto 2.
Quarterscores: 25-25, 56-45, 69-71, 94-87.

Second game

NLEX (90) – Alas 30, Oftana 10, Semerad 9, Varilla 8, Trollano 8, Quinahan 8, Chua 6, Nieto 6, Miranda 3, Rosales 2, Paniamogan 0, Ighalo 0.
Magnolia (77) – Abueva 20, Lee 12, Dionisio 11, Sangalang 10, Jalalon 7, Reavis 4, Barroca 4, Dela Rosa 4, Wong 3, Corpuz 2, Brill 0, Ahanmisi 0, Zaldivar 0, Escoto 0
Quarterscores: 25-18, 55-32, 73-59, 90-77.