left the team without notice at the start of the second round of the semifinals in the Open Conference. The Milk Masters, which split their first four games in the semifinals, lost a chance for a playoff berth and played their last four games without an import. Forward Abe King returned to the team and played his first game of the season during the All-Filipino Conference, leading Great Taste to a 112-108 win over Alaska on July 28. With one week left before the start of the semifinal round of the All-Filipino Conference, point guard Bernie Fabiosa dislocated his shoulder in a rough, physical play during the second half of the game between Great Taste and Añejo on August 4, won by the Rum Masters on Robert Jaworski's buzzer-beating follow-up, Fabiosa's injury put him out for the rest of the season. During the Milkmasters' second outing in the semifinal round against Añejo Rum 65 on August 14, a brawl ensued in the Great Taste' bench late in the second quarter when Añejo's Dante Gonzalgo crashed into a seated Dennis Abbatuan and was on the receiving end of the blows dealt by Great Taste players Dennis Abbatuan, Abe King and Sonny Cabatu. The Milkmasters, which led by as many as 17 points and were up, 92-77, at the start of the final period, lost the game, 104-111, on a big, fourth quarter rally by the Rum Masters. Triggerman Allan Caidic went up to the stands after the game and mauled a heckler/Añejo fan, Caidic was not able to participate in the three-point shootout contest and was fined and suspended for one game by the Great Taste management for that mauling incident. On the last playing date of the semifinal round in the All-Filipino Conference on September 1, the Milkmasters were already out of contention from the finals race and they almost turn into a spoiler's role in San Miguel Beermen's quest for a playoff for the second finals berth. There was no time left and the score tied at 126 when Sonny Cabatu was fouled, sending him to the free throw line, a dejected beermen coach Norman Black was headed for exits when Cabatu missed his two charities and the game went into overtime. San Miguel escaped with a 138-137 win in the extension period. On December 11, the season's rivalry of the year comes to a close in Game four