MANILA, 26 May 2007 — Well, this streak saw an early end as far as Barangay Ginebra is concerned.
The Gin Kings snapped out of a three-game losing streak last night, getting the goods from old hand Rodney Santos and Rod Nealy in an 88-84 victory over Sta. Lucia in the PBA Fiesta Cup eliminations at the Ynares Center.
Santos scored two key baskets in a 30-second span in the most crucial stages of the fourth period as the Kings regained a piece of the lead with idle Red Bull and Alaska after rising to 11-5 overall.
Nealy, who has established himself as the hottest Best Import candidate, finished with 38 points, capped by the Kings’ final eight points that put the game to bed and sealed the Realtors’ 11th setback in 16 games.
The 6-foot-6 left-hander actually scored 14 of his total in the fourth. He also finished with 19 rebounds and six assists in another sterling effort that also helped make the difference for the Kings.
“It’s good that we finally put an end to the (losing) streak,” Ginebra coach Jong Uichico said, smiling when he was reminded that it was a good thing his losing streak did not match his six-game winning streak earlier in the elimination round.
Now we just have to take care of business ourselves, shoot for wins in our last two games and maybe qualify (to the semifinals outright). Santos, who had a major knee operation last year, came into the contest averaging just 3.1 points a game and has not been that vital an ingredient in the rotoation. But the 6-foot-1 guard out of San Sebastian was his old self last night, hitting a triple that made it 74-all and then finished off a fastbreak in the next Ginebra offensive that gave the Kings the lead to stay at 76-74.
And then Nealy took over.
Jamaal Williams scored 25 points to pace the Realtors, who missed 15 of 29 free throws awarded them to be in danger of being dragged into a playoff for the last slot to the wildcard phase.
Meanwhile, Welcoat breathed some life into its sagging campaign in the first game after pounding out a come-from-behind 86-80 victory over Coca-Cola.
Rob Wainwright scored 11 of his 19 points in the final frame as the Dragons spewed fire just when they needed to to erase a 15-point third quarter deficit and snap a six-game losing streak.
Welcoat improved to 4-13 with the win and it kept the Dragons within a game of slumping Purefoods for a legitimate chance at advancing past the eliminations for the first time in their PBA existence.
It was a complete change in form for the Dragons, who went down in an ugly manner Friday last week, 79-119, at the hands of San Miguel, a loss that most experts said was the coup d’ grace to being booted out again.
“It has been hard to motivate my players, especially after taking those kinds of losses,” Welcoat coach Leo Austria said.
“I somehow got to them, telling them that we still have a chance at making the wildcard phase.” That chance comes on June 1, when they clash with the Tender Juicy Giants.
“The good thing in the situation that we have now is that we control our destiny,” Austria added. “So it would be entirely up to us if we will advance or not. And the players know this fully well.”
Alex Compton is also making the best out of his first - and maybe only stint - in the PBA, shooting 21 points and joining hands with Wainwright in that torrid third quarter comeback.
Compton and Wainwright conspired in a telling 21-4 run that gave the Dragons an 81-74 lead with 2:53 left. And it was all Welcoat from there as the Tigers seemingly played without much direction after blowing command.
Coca-Cola, which dropped to 7-10 overall and will be playing in the wildcard, had a 65-52 lead at the start of the fourth quarter after a Leo Avenido triple. But the team went on to make only five shots from the field from there.
