MANILA, 11 December 2006 — One final push.
Sta. Lucia, the pacesetter for most of the PBA Philippine Cup which found itself in dire straits after three straight tumbles late in its elimination round schedule, finally arrested the skid last night after bringing down Welcoat, 98-82.
And the Realtors could be looking at this one spark to come up with one final run and make the semifinals outright.
“We needed this win very badly,” coach Alfrancis Chua later said. “We still have a chance, but we have to beat Ginebra and Welcoat (the Realtors’ final two elimination round assignments) before thinking of that.”
Dennis Espino keyed a telling third quarter breakaway as the Realtors improved to 10-6, while dealing the Dragons an eighth straight loss and putting Welcoat’s head in the chopping block at 3-13.
Kenneth Duremdes paced the Realtors with 18 points, Espino added 17 and 11 rebounds and Nelbert Omolon posted a double-double with 16 and 11 for the win that served the team’s psyche more than anything else.
“Aside from being able to finally win again, the boys needed this to get their confidence back,” Chua added. “It was tough losing three straight games and it’s a feeling you don’t want to take to the playoffs.”
