• Barangay Ginebra jumped the gun on Rain or Shine early and hammered out a 114-71 decision in their playoff match to pocket the remaining automatic semifinal seat in the 2008-09 Motolite-Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Fiesta Conference Sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.

David Noel bounced back from a mediocre performance in the previous game as he unloaded 13 of his 17 points in the first quarter that set the tone for the Kings en route to the easy victory.

"This is all we need to get our confidence back," said Noel who was held to just seven points in Ginebra's 75-76 loss to Alaska last Friday that denied the team an early entry in the best-of-seven semifinal series.

Ronald Tubid led seven Ginebra players in double figures with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. Cyrus Baguio chipped in 16 off the bench for coach Jong Uichico, who joined his former team San Miguel Beer in the semis.

Jay-R Reyes was the lone bright spot for the Elasto Painters with 17 points as import Jai Lewis was limited to just six points on 2-of-5 shooting in 28 minutes of play.

Rain or Shine went down to No. 3 spot and will face Barako Bull in the knockout wildcard pairing. The Elasto Painters will enjoy a twice-to-beat edge.

Ginebra led by as much as 46 points in the game, 112-66 under two minutes left.

In the first game, Coca-Cola knocked off Alaska in their own playoff match, 81-74, to grab the No. 8 spot and face Sta. Lucia Realty in another do-or-die contest.

James Penny fired a game-high 29 points, including a crucial basket in the last minute of the game that thwarted the rally of the Aces, who almost erased Coke's 14-point lead in the last five minutes of the game.

"This is a big win for us," said Tigers head coach Kenneth Duremdes. "The game against Ginebra (where they lost by 37 points) helped us a lot and get motivated. Now, our confidence is back and we can compete again."

The win shoved Coke to another knockout contest, this time against the well-rested Realtors, who might play without their MVP Kelly Williams because of health problem.

"Even without Kelly, Sta. Lucia is still a dangerous. They still have Ryan (Reyes) and (Anthony) Johnson at solid din ang kanilang support cast led by Joseph Yeo," Duremdes added.

Behind Asi Taulava, Penny and RJ Rizada, Coke built a 71-54 lead with 5:09 remaining before the Aces unloaded a furious 12-2 run led by Willie Miller to close the gap, 69-73, 1:23 left.

But Penny hit a difficult drive against a phalanx of Alaska defenders to push their lead back to 75-69, a little over a minute remaining.

Tony dela Cruz had the chance to put the Aces back in the game but he missed a wide-open three-pointer that led to six free throws from the Tigers to seal the win.

Miller led Alaska with 17 points while Dela Cruz contributed 16. The Aces were relegated to No. 9 spot and have to win twice against Burger King to move to the best-of-three quarterfinal round