MANILA, 21 April 2008 — It is now obvious that Alaska coach Tim Cone knows what he’s talking about.
Just days after practically telling the field to watch out for Welcoat, the Dragons last night claimed their first victim by bringing down fancied Purefoods, 110-103, in the eliminations of the Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Dragons played it right in the stretch for a change and got rewarded for it as Welcoat won for the first time in five games to also snap a 15-game slide dating back to the last tournament and finally savor that winning feeling.
“At least now I feel that I am in the PBA already,” Welcoat coach Caloy Garcia, who took over the resigned Leo Austria at the start of the tournament, jokingly said later.
“Tim Cone told me that (after a 90-92 loss to Alaska ) we can win, it’s just a matter of time,” Garcia added.
Cone issued the warning after his Aces scraped past the Dragons, 92-90 on Wednesday. It was the second straight game where Welcoat played sloppy in the endgame to lose.
Last night, though, the Dragons were in their elements and could not be denied.
Third-string wingman Allan Salangsang came off the bench in the third quarter and sparked the Welcoat charge, shooting five straight points to bridge the third and fourth periods that ushered the Dragons to the lead to stay, 76-73.
And it was from there where the new-found character of the Dragons, probably brought about by those two close shaves the past 10 days, came to fore, as Welcoat hit baskets when it had to and got crucial stops to scuttle the Tender Juicy Giants, who dropped to 2-3.
“Salangsang came out hitting big shots in the second half, and the team played better from then on,” said Garcia.
Marquis Gainous carried the cudgels for Welcoat early on and went on to pace the Dragons with 25 points and 11 rebounds even as four others scored in twin digits with fellow import Corey Santee shooting 15 and dishing out 10 assists.
Darius Rice tossed in 28 points and grabbed 19 rebounds for Purefoods, which clearly struggled with James Yap, the 2006 MVP and heart of the Giants’ offense, held down to just seven points.
Yap failed to score in twin digits for the first time in 42 games and those seven points were his fewest in 105 games after shooting just five in the 2005-2006 Fiesta Conference finals against Red Bull.
While Welcoat was able to do it in the stretch, the same could not be said of Barangay Ginebra as the crowd-darling Gin Kings stumbled to their fifth straight loss and remained winless after folding up in the second game. Magnolia came back from a seven-point deficit with under four minutes left to pound out a 95-92 victory over the Kings, who are now in their lonesome at the bottom. The Beverage Masters improved to 3-2 with their third straight win after getting 20 points and 19 rebounds from import Jameel Watkins and 15 points from the ever-reliable Danny Seigle.
Ginebra zoomed ahead by 91-84 after getting seven straight points from import Ernest Brown. But things soured for the Kings from there as the Beverage Masters hit their stride with Watkins on the firing end. Watkins scored eight of his total in that span and Seigle nailed a crucial followup that all but sealed the outcome as Ginebra bungled at least three attempts at forging overtime. Brown led the Kings with 18 points like Jay-Jay Helterbrand as the duo combined for 15 points in the fourth period and almost pulled this one out of the fire for Ginebra.
