MANILA: It didn’t take long for Barangay Ginebra to pluck newcomer KIA Motors out of Cloud 9.

Using their huge advantage in size to the hilt, the Gin Kings held the Sorento to a paltry 22 first half points on the way to an 87-55 victory Saturday night for the solo lead in the PBA Philippine Cup eliminations at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena.

Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar and Ginebra’s more experienced, much better rotation of guards took turns in hurting the Sorento, who came into the game still on a high after coming from behind to rip fellow rookie squad Blackwater Elite last Sunday.

It was the second straight victory for the Gin Kings, who blew fellow powerhouse Talk ‘N Text off the floor also during the inaugurals, 101-81.

Slaughter and Aguilar, who each scored 16 points to pace all Ginebra shooters, fired a combined 23 points in the first half alone — one better than the entire KIA squad — as the duo set the tone of the rout.

The loss, which put the Sorento at 1-1, was the most lopsided thus far in the very young tournament, and it exposed all the deficiencies in the KIA game unlike Blackwater, which, despite losing to Rain or Shine on Friday, showed marked improvement in its second game.

Jay-R Reyes, another big man, scored 12 points and acrobatic swingman Chris Ellis contributed 10 as the other big guns of the Kings had the luxury of taking it easy with the outcome settled early.

Rudy Lingganay and Riel Cervantes, who were plucked out of semiretirement by the Sorento, each scored 14 points. KIA’s hero in the 80-66 victory over the Elite, LA Revilla, struggled to post just seven points.

Revilla, the sophomore point guard who scored a career-high 23 points last Sunday and keyed the KIA win, was the subject of the Ginebra defense this time and was clearly not able to deal with the pressure that well.

Meanwhile, defending champion Purefoods, after taking a thorough beating at the hands of Alaska last Wednesday, tries to get back on track when the Star Hotshots — the new name of the San Mig Coffee Mixers — slug it out with powerhouse San Miguel Beer at 5:15 p.m. Sunday.

The Hotshots will be without second year big man Ian Sangalang, who tore an ACL in that 20-point loss to the Aces. He is expected to be out for at least five months.

Reigning MVP June Mar Fajardo and Arwind Santos, the MVP two seasons ago, will again be the focal point of the San Miguel Beer game on both ends and the absence of Sangalang could definitely hamper the Purefoods defense on the 6-foot-10 Fajardo.

In the first game, Globalport and Barako Bull, losers in their respective debuts, tangle in the 3 p.m. game.

There are reports that the Batang Pier, after blowing command to lose to NLEX on Tuesday, are set to replace coach Pido Jarencio with Franz Pumaren owing to that debacle to the Road Warriors.

The Batang Pier, who won just a combined two games in Jarencio’s first two conferences as a coach last season, seem to be growing impatient with team owner Mikee Romero very active in the make-up of his team.

Romero was very disappointed after the loss to the Road Warriors, as he spent close to one hour after the game talking to team manager BJ Manalo and alternate board Erick Arejola trying to figure out what went wrong against NLEX.

Pumaren, who steered the Air21 Express to a mammoth turnaround last year, didn’t want to comment on the issue. Calls to Batang Pier management were also not being answered.