MANILA: Even Tim Cone – after all of the things that he has seen throughout his successful coaching career in the PBA – was impressed at what he just saw.

“We played well from start to finish,” Cone said after his Barangay Ginebra crew dominated Meralco all night for a 103-90 victory on Wednesday that put the Gin Kings safely in the upper half of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoff bracket at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

“We came out hot, made shots and it sort of never stopped,” Cone said as his whole starting lineup finished in twin digits in what could go down as their most impressive performance thus far in the conference. “We played very, very well on both ends.”

The Gin Kings took Meralco’s main strength – import Arinze Onuaku – out of his comfort zone right from the start to dictate and pace early and finish with a flurry.

“We played Onuaku well,” Cone, a winner of two Grand Slams who took over the Kings at the start of the season.

Onuaku, who turned the Bolts from one of the early casualties in the Philippine Cup to a force in this tournament, scored just 10 points – his lowest production – after failing to solve the Ginebra defense that even triple-teamed him whenever he gets a touch down low.

Greg Slaughter scored 21 points and LA Tenorio had 20 and their performances alone helped plug whatever hole import Othyus Jeffers average offensive night might have created.

Jeffers hit just 11, but Mark Caguioa, a former MVP, fired 16 and Japeth Aguilar 14 and Ginebra got a fifth local in twin digits in Chris Ellis, who came off the bench to shoot 10.

The win was very important for the Kings, who will be in a best-of-three series, at worst, depending on the results of the last two games to be played on Friday.

For Meralco, it still kept its hopes of finishing No. 1 for the first time in franchise history, but the fate of which is out of the Bolts’ hands as they would need to pray that Tropang TNT turns back San Miguel Beer on Friday.

If the Beermen win, they will become No. 1 even if they end up tied with the Bolts at 8-3. San Miguel won its elimination round game against Meralco and will win the tiebreak, when applied.

A victory by the Texters, meanwhile, will forge a playoff for No. 2 where Ginebra, San Miguel, Tropang TNT, Rain or Shine and even Alaska could be involved in. In that case, the three teams with the lowest quotients will be ranked Nos. 4-6, with the top two figuring in a KO match for the last twice-to-beat privilege.

In the first game, Star got the lift it needed from unheralded rookie Mark Cruz in an 86-73 victory over Mahindra that gave the Hotshots the No. 8 slot in the quarterfinals.

Cruz, called upon in the crucial game after starting point guard Marc Barroca suffered cuts above and below his right eye following an accidental collision with Karl Dehesa, fired a career-high 18 points to help power the Hotshots.

Star closed out with a 5-6 card and will qualify last even if NLEX, which has a 5-5 record, loses to Alaska on Friday in the final playdate of the elimination round. The Road Warriors defeated the Hotshots in their only meeting here and will win the tiebreak, just in case.

The 5-foot-7 Cruz, the former Letran star in the NCAA whom many felt was not suited for the pros, hit all of his three triple conversions in the fourth period that helped quell several rallies by the Enforcers.

Mahindra thus ended the conference with a 4-7 slate and joined Blackwater, Phoenix Petroleum and GlobalPort in exiting early.

Ricardo Ratliffe fired 24 points and had 16 rebounds for the Hotshots, who could wind up facing the Bolts in the quarterfinals, needing to beat Meralco two straight times to make the Final Four.

A tougher order would be playing sister team San Miguel Beer in the first round, which could happen if the Beermen defeat defending champion Tropang TNT in the classification’s final game also on Friday.

The only way that the Hotshots could avoid San Miguel is for the Beermen to lose to the Texters, a scenario which would give Meralco No. 1 but would put San Miguel – in all likelihood – in a playoff for No. 2 and the right to play No. 7.

NLEX, on the other hand, could avoid landing seventh with a win over the Aces.