WELCOAT PAINTS ROXAS CITY RED, ROUTS GINEBRA IN HUGE UPSET

Nic Belasco-led Dragons finish big after nearly blowing 23-point bubble
Philippine Basketball Association website
Saturday, 27 October 2007

ROXAS CITY. – Welcoat traveled here and painted the town red.

Winless in two starts in Manila, the Dragons ended their dry spell with the biggest upset by any team in the conference so far, a surprising 82-64 blowout of the defending champion Barangay Ginebra Kings in a 2007-08 Smart PBA Philippine Cup road showcase at the Capiz Gymnasium here Saturday night.

The Dragons pounced on the Kings’ poor start then fended off a furious endgame chase by the crowd-favorites to score their first win in the season following back-to-back defeats to the Coca-Cola Tigers and the Red Bull Barakos.

The Kings, who came up with the lowest output in the conference and their lowest under head coach Jong Uichico, suffered a second loss in three games, obviously missing the services of injured main men Mark Caguioa and Eric Menk.

But this one could prick the Kings’ pride with the defending all-Filipino champions embarrassed by the team which was good for only three wins in this tourney last year.

Trailing by as much as 23 pts. in the third period and by 16 entering the fourth, the Kings used an 18-0 run anchored on Jayjay Helterbrand, Sunday Salvacion and rookies Macky Escalona and JR Aquino to rally to within two at 64-66 with 5:47 left to play but didn’t score the rest of the way even as the Dragons came up with a 16-0 finishing kick anchored on Nic Belasco and JayR Reyes.

With the win, Welcoat curiously caught up with the two champions last season -- all-Filipino ruler Barangay Ginebra and Fiesta Conference titleholder Alaska Milk -- at 1-2.

It was a big win for Welcoat which had only seven victories in all last season. It was actually the most lopsided win by the Dragons in all their eight wins in the pro league thus far, not having won by more than 10 in their previous seven.

The Dragons were already on the brink of total collapse, nearly losing a 62-46 third-quarter bulge, when they regained composure led by Belasco who finished with 17 points and a conference-high 19 rebounds.

Rob Wainwright and Jay-R Reyes also starred for the Dragons, finishing with 15 and 14 points, respectively with the latter adding 13 rebounds.

Welcoat, which also held Barangay Ginebra to a conference-low 27.8% shooting from the field, scored the first seven points of the game and led by as many as 16 at 24-8 before taking the half at 42-30.

The Kings closed in at 30-36 but Wainwright defused the tension by knocking in back-to-back jumpers.

So dominant were the Dragons in the early goings that the lone highlight coming from Ginebra was a three-pointer from Johnny Abarrientos just before the buzzer sounded in the first quarter.

The Dragons went 6-of-17 from the three-point range as against the Kings 3-of-11 shooting from the same distance in the first 24 minutes of play.

Billy Mamaril led the Kings with 17 points and five rebounds while Helterbrand finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Curiously, Barangay Ginebra was also Welcoat’s only victim in four games during the preseason tournament, winning their encounter 99-97 last Sept. 16 in Tarlac City. (NC)

The scores:

Welcoat 82 --Belasco 17, Wainwright 15, Reyes 14, Devance 8, Lopez 8, Baguion 7, Araña 5, Gelig 6, Ibañes 2, Dulay 0.
Ginebra 64 -- Mamaril 17, Helterbrand 14, Macapagal 7, Reavis 6, Tubid 5, Aquino 4, Escalona 4, Salvacion 4, Abarrientos 3, Artadi 0, Lao 0, Holper 0.
Quarterscores: 24-11, 42-30, 62-46, 82-64