MANILA: Barangay Ginebra and Purefoods clashing for the first time in the 40th PBA Season was no doubt a box-office hit.

The result just wasn’t as pretty as in their previous matchups — at least for one of the sides.

Using a great start and playing with a lot more desire, the Gin Kings blew the defending champion Star Hotshots to kingdom come, with an 89-66 victory giving Ginebra a tie for second in the Philippine Cup eliminations at the Araneta Coliseum.

Ginebra scored the first 10 points and never allowed the Hotshots to come within three in the first half before totally breaking away in the third frame to deal Purefoods its worst loss of the young season on the night James Yap returned and when the squad retired the numbers of two of its former greats.

“It was just one of those nights where I think we wanted it more than they did,” winning coach Jeffrey Cariaso said. “I could breathe now. I haven’t been breathing for the last four days to prepare for this game.”

Close to 19,000 animated fans were in attendance, but not even the part of the crowd that came to root for the Hotshots could will them to claw back from several daunting deficits.

Yap was clearly still out of synch after missing the last two games because of a hamstring pull. He was on the floor for 30 minutes and struggled to a 2-of-14 clip from the field.

Purefoods’ heart and soul was good for just seven points and no other player truly had a standout offensive game for coach Tim Cone, who was beaten for the first time by his former understudy Cariaso.

“It feels good,” Cariaso said of his first victory over Cone. “For tonight, we were able to get the victory, it’s always a challenge and it will always be special. But the strong part of coach Tim is his adjustment.

“He (Cone) wouldn’t have been around the league this long if he wasn’t good at coming back,” Cariaso added.

Joseph Yeo, recruited at the end of last season from disbanded Air21, was at the forefront of the Ginebra breakaway in the third quarter, shooting all but one of his five triples as the Kings padded a 38-32 halftime lead to 17 going into the fourth.

It was all Ginebra from there as Purefoods continued to struggle offensively, something which Cariaso thinks stemmed from a nine-day break coming into the contest.

“I think the nine-day break hurt them more than it helped them,” Cariaso said. “They never got into a rhythm out there.”

Ginebra claimed a tie for momentary second with San Miguel Beer, which scored a hard-earned 79-76 victory over NLEX in Tubod, Lanao del Norte Saturday night.

Globalport, meanwhile, moved within a full game of second place, rising to 3-2 earlier in the night after dealing newcomer Blackwater an 87-72 walloping.

Ronjay Buenafe scored 17 points and coach Pido Jarencio got three others tossing in 14 or more in the Batang Pier’s most impressive outing to date.

The Elite have now lost their first five games and are again alone in the cellar.

Globalport won back-to-back games for the first time under Jarencio’s watch and did it even with sophomore guard Terrence Romeo sitting out the game because of a viral infection.

Alex Cabagnot also returned and got the Batang Pier playing more fluidly. Cabagnot had nine points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Bryan Faundo scored 16 points and Bam-Bam Gamalinda 15 for the Elite, who held the lead for several times in the first period only to fail to keep in step when the Batang Pier hit their stride.