MANILA, 2 June 2007 — Though he said it in jest, Tim Cone made no effort to hide his wishes.

“I’d rather play nobody,” Cone said last night, moments after surviving Sta. Lucia, 99-93, that gave his Alaska side at least a playoff for the second automatic semifinal slot in the PBA Fiesta Cup at the Ynares Center.

“We know we’ll be in some kind of a playoff, but I hope that they do me some favors,” Cone said with a smile, referring to Barangay Ginebra and Talk ‘N Text, who can tie Alaska’s 12-6 record with wins tomorrow over Air21 and San Miguel, respectively.

The Aces, who got 28 points from Rosell Ellis and a career-high 26 from Sonny Thoss, will be awaiting the results of the doubleheader at the Araneta Coliseum tomorrow to find out if they will be dragged into a playoff or not.

Should both the Gin Kings and the Phone Pals win, Ginebra will be relegated into the quarterfinals because of an inferior quotient, with a playoff between Alaska and Talk ‘N Text to be held for the No. 2 slot.

Red Bull, the defending champion here, already clinched the first outright semifinal berth with a high-wire 105-103 decision of Coca-Cola and new import Rashad Bell on Wednesday night.

The only way for Alaska to make it without complications is for both the Kings and the Phone Pals to lose. Ginebra’s only way in, meanwhile, is for it to dispose of Air21 and hope that the Phone Pals lose so that the Kings could advance to the playoff opposite the Aces.Ellis and Thoss scored 13 points between them in Alaska’s solid fourth quarter. Ellis also pulled down 15 rebounds and had six assists, while Thoss topped his splendid offensive game with five blocks.Kelly Williams led the Realtors with 27 points in 37 minutes.

Purefoods earlier formally took Welcoat out of its miseries after a 109-97 thumping of the Dragons in the first game that gave the Tender Juicy Giants a seat in the wildcard phase. James Yap exploded for a career-high 41 points and Marquin Chandler scored 23, grabbed 15 rebounds and missed a triple double by just two assists in leading the Tender Juicy Giants to close out their elimination round campaign at 6-12.

“For us, the conference started just now,” coach Ryan Gregorio said. “A 6-12 record is not something to be proud about, but we are confident because if there’s one team that has done a good job at surviving, it’s us.”

Purefoods played with the complement of a complete roster for the first time in the tournament, with Marc Pingris returning from injured bay and Rommel Adducul broken in by Gregorio after being acquired in a lopsided trade from Red Bull recently. Tournament format calls for the sixth and seventh-seeded teams after the elims to figure in KO matches with the No. 9 and No. 8 squads, respectively, with the winners advancing to another you-or-me match for the last quarterfinal berth.

The Sta. Lucia loss put the Realtors in ninth spot, the Giants in eighth and Coca-Cola in seventh place with San Miguel and Air21 both gunning for wins tomorrow for No. 5 and an easier assignment in the wildcard phase.

“I’ve told the boys to forget the elims,” Gregorio added. “Six-12 (record) is not something to be proud of. But if there’s a team with a chance to survive, that’s us.”

Adducul and Pingris played minimal minutes but added depth to the Purefoods rotation in the Giants’ repeat victory over the Dragons, whom they led by as many as 27 points, 67-40, early in the third period.

Gregorio, who engaged Red Bull’s Yeng Guiao in a classic battle for this championship last year, played only nine players with Yap standing out on 6-of-14 shooting from the three-point area, 9-of-17 from the two-point zone and a perfect 5-of-5 from the stripe.

Meanwhile, Sta. Lucia’s super rookie Kelly Williams was given his release to play for the National team after the Realtors play their last game in the Fiesta Cup.

“I told the PBA and Samahang Basketbol Pilipinas that it is an honor and a privilege for us to have Kelly join the national team,” Sta. Lucia board representative Buddy Encarnado said.