MANILA, 19 May 2008 — Reality is fast creeping in on Barangay Ginebra, and on Welcoat, too.

The Gin Kings, the powerhouse side in deep slumber, finally woke up and made the Dragons tournament whipping boys again in the 105-70 victory last night that moved Ginebra within another victory of climbing out of the Fiesta Cup cellar at the Araneta Coliseum.

Chris Alexander scored 24 points, grabbed 21 rebounds, had six assists and four blocks as the Kings snapped a two-game losing skid to improve to 2-7 while deflating whatever confidence the Dragons built up in the first half of the eliminations.

Welcoat got just 13 points each from imports Marquis Gainous and Corey Santee and the Dragons bowed out of the game after shooting just nine points in the second quarter to enter the second half down by 22.

In losing for the second straight night and seventh in 10 games overall, Welcoat is now just a win up on the Kings, who started the tournament with five straight losses to be in a position the Dragons are very familiar with down the bottom. “We implemented some changes in our game and it showed tonight,” Ginebra coach Jong Uichico told Arab News.

Ginebra hopes to string up a few wins to get itself in contention for at least an outright quarterfinal slot and avoid any complications of playing in the wildcard phase. Mark Caguioa scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half and Alexander, who has led the Kings to just two wins in his five games here, had 13 of his total in the same stretch. Welcoat lost in a lopsided manner for the second straight night, and unless the Dragons find ways to win again, they face the spectre of failing to advance past the eliminations in their fourth straight tournament.

In the first game, Alaska got its revenge on Red Bull, with Willie Miller leading the way with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists in a 101-90 victory that was more convincing than what the final score indicated.

The Aces started out hot and did not let up, racing to several 18-point leads to avenge a rugged, 100-97 overtime loss to the Barako in Laoag where import Randy Holcomb was thrown out and suspended a game for bloodying Rich Alvarez’s nose. Alaska climbed to 4-6 with its second straight win and put itself well within the mix of contenders for outright playoff slots. But coach Tim Cone remains confident that his squad can still improve and give a repeat bid in this tournament a really great shot. “We’re playing closer to what we envisioned this team to be at the start,” Cone told a handful of scribes later. “It was just kind of shocking that we played the way we did earlier in the tournament.

“Hopefully, everyone in the team is getting it now, playing the roles they are supposed to and helping us get to the level that we want.”

Alaska won back-to-back games for the first time here and though the Aces are at 4-6 and still under .500, Cone still managed to put some positive thought into their losing record. “We’re still 4-6 and that record is still very negative,” Cone said.

Holcomb, who was also fined P20,000 for the forearm that broke Alvarez’s nose, finished last night’s game with 21 points despite making just one of 11 charity attempts.

Red Bull thus dropped into a share of the lead with idle Talk ’N Text, which improved to 7-3 on Saturday with a 90-80 win over Sta. Lucia in an out-of-town game at the Xavier University gym in Cagayan de Oro.

Mac Cardona scattered 31 points to lead the Phone Pals in dealing the Realtors their fourth loss in nine matches.