MANILA: Barangay Ginebra, a team that is at its best coming from behind, showed that it is also comfortable setting the pace.

The Gin Kings jumped out of the gates hard and never looked back, leading big early before holding off sister team San Miguel in the stretch for a 102-96 victory and a 1-0 lead in their title playoff for the Fiesta Cup before a mammoth Araneta Coliseum crowd.

Paul Artadi hit three triples on the way to 11 first quarter points, and Jay-Jay Helterbrand drilled 14 of his 21 in the second quarter as the Kings imposed their will early to gain the psychological edge over the title favorites.

“You’d like that situation when you get a head start,” coach Jong Uichico, shooting to win his 10th title overall and third with the Kings, said of the hot start to the game and their 1-0 lead. “It’s hard to come back against a team like San Miguel.

“But it takes four games to win (a championship series),” he said. “I’ve been here many times before and the first game is just one game.” Aside from shooting 40-percent from three-point range, Ginebra also controlled the boards, snaring a total of 65 rebounds, 20 of them off the offensive glass. San Miguel, despite having the tallest and beefiest frontline in the league, grabbed only 57 rebounds.

“We were not mentally prepared for this game,” bemoaned San Miguel coach Siot Tanquingcen. “Defense (for us) does not stop with them missing their shots. They missed shots all right, but they were also able to get it (possession) back.

“We lost it, that’s it,” Tanquingcen added. “Everyone’s to blame. We have to come more prepared for the next game.”

Ginebra took a 17-point lead in the first half and had an 81-65 bubble near the end of the third, getting offensive contributions from almost everyone in one of its most impressive games in the tournament.

Cyrus Baguio chipped in with 17 markers, nine of them in the fourth quarter, and Ronald Tubid finished with 14, including the Kings’ final six points that came when the Beermen had cut down that deficit to within five.

Jay Washington led San Miguel with 19 points, all but seven coming in the fourth, and Jonas Villanueva had 18, including a triple with 7:18 left that put the Beermen threateningly close, 81-88.

But Ginebra was able to answer every San Miguel uprising, with Tubid the last to step up by hitting a lay-up and four free throws inside the final 32.5 to drive the final nail on San Miguel’s coffin and take momentum into the second game scheduled tomorrow also at the Big Dome.

Earlier, Arwind Santos came up with a statement in his final game of the season to make a strong case for the MVP award, shooting 27 points and hauling down 13 rebounds to lead Burger King to a 132-118 win over Rain or Shine for third place.

The battle for the crumbs was not really a game worth watching, with the Elasto Painters not using Rob Wainwright, Jay-R Reyes and Gabe Norwood, making Rain or Shine easy picking for the Whoppers.

Burger King stormed to several imposing spreads early as Santos jumpstarted the Whopper offense with 10 first quarter points. Rain or Shine was buried in deep holes as early as the second period and never got to threaten the rest of the way.

In the absence of the three high scorers, it was Mark Isip who led the way for Rain or Shine with a career-high 29 points with Ryan Arana shooting 24.

Santos , the leading candidate for the MVP award, got a lot of help with six teammates scoring 10 or more as the Whoppers and coach Yeng Guiao look at better things in the future. “I think we competed (well) in this conference,” Guiao, also the National mentor, said. “We put in the mentality that we want this team to have. We have something good to look forward to.”

Guiao couldn’t hide his excitement at the prospect of landing Japeth Aguilar in next season’s annual Draft where Burger King owns the top overall choice.

“If Japeth is applying for the draft, the way I see him, he’s going to be the next dominant big man in the league, without a doubt,” Guiao, who will handle Aguilar in the National team, said.

Gary David scattered 17 points, import Shawn Daniels had 16 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Whoppers, last season’s losing finalists to Barangay Ginebra.