MANILA, 17 November 2007 — After displaying character the last time out, Welcoat suddenly had a second wind to flaunt last night.
Welcoat blew a 17-point third quarter lead and had to bounce back from eight points down in the final seven minutes before turning back Magnolia, 95-93 in the Philippine Cup, as the franchise won consecutive games for the first time in its PBA existence.
It was the second powerhouse squad that the Dragons chopped down and it came after they had lost a 73-56 advantage before unloading a counter 13-0 blast that keyed their third win in seven games.
“Hindi rin ako makapaniwala,” Welcoat coach Leo Austria told Arab News. “Hindi ko rin alam kung ano ang meron kami. Imagine beating powerhouse teams Talk ‘N Text and Magnolia in straight games.
“I think through hard work we were able to come up with big wins,” Austria added. Slowly, nabubuo na ang character ng team.” Nic Belasco, who sank the game-winning triple at the buzzer against the Phone Pals, again led the Dragons, shooting 18 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, Rob Wainwright also scored 18, and Joe De Vance collected 16 points.
But it was left-handed rookie Ryan Arana, the former De La Salle and Harbor Center stalwart, who breathed the most fire among the Dragons at the crunch.
The hard-nosed off guard completed consecutive three-point plays that highlighted that 13-0 assault, as the Dragons battled back to erase a 77-85 deficit to take command again at 90-85, which proved enough buffer for them in the end.
Jay-Reyes and Denver Lopez also had double-digit outputs, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Dondon Hontiveros topscored for the Beverage Masters with 24, but only had four points in the second half when the Dragons pulled away to take a 73-56 lead. Danny Seigle had 19 but was scoreless in the fourth quarter.
Magnolia dropped to a 4-3 win-loss record, tied now with Talk ‘N Text and Alaska for second place.
The Beverage Masters, though, still had the chance to avoid embarrassment when Hontiveros sank a triple, 88-90 with 2:59 left. But De Vance retaliated with a three-point play off Seigle, and Wainwright drained a pair of charities with 17 seconds left to seal the win, 95-88.
Air21 made sure that Mark Caguioa would get a rude welcome later as the Express also came from behind to nip defending champion Barangay Ginebra, 102-95.
Ranidel de Ocampo, a national player who has not made much of an impact lately, exploded for 10 of his 23 points in the fourth period to key the Express win, just their fourth in seven games.
More importantly, it erased the stigma of losing back-to-back games in lopsided fashion as the Express regained their confidence with probably their biggest win in the tournament to date, Arwind Santos also scattered 23 points and he and De Ocampo combined for 14 rebounds in the very rugged game that saw a number of technicals being called and players almost coming to blows.
Caguioa, who missed the first six games of the Gin Kings because of a shoulder injury that needed healing in the United States , saw action for 14 minutes and contributed six points.
But the Kings still dropped to 2-5 overall despite 22 points from starting point guard Jay-Jay Helterbrand.
Meanwhile, undefeated Purefoods shoots to make it eight-in-a-row today when the Tender Juicy Giants battle a Red Bull squad minus Junthy Valenzuela at the Tacloban Convention Center. The last time the Giants lost was way back in the Fiesta Conference wild card phase, or June 8 to be exact, with Marc Pingris sidelined with an injury.
