HEART OF A CHAMPION

HEART OF A CHAMPION

Sta. Lucia comes up with all-Filipino title-winning form, routs Welcoat

Sunday, 04 May 2008 Source: pba.ph

STA. Lucia Realty knows exactly what went wrong when it lost back-to-back games prior to the All-Star break in the Smart PBA Fiesta Conference. “We were not playing real defense, we were not moving our feet and we were bailing out our opponents,” reminisced Realtors coach Boyet Fernandez. There were to be no repeating such mistakes Sunday evening, as Welcoat imports Marquis Gainous and Coree Santee could readily attest to. The Realtors held the Dragons' imports scoreless in the opening period, got off to an explosive start and sustained their charge for majority of the way to fashion out a cruising 111-97 victory. “The players did their homework,” beamed Fernandez. “Everybody defended well, especially our wing guys who did not get into foul trouble like in our previous two games.” For Fernandez, taking away Santee’s usual drive-and-dish game, preventing Gainous from gaining any real momentum on his drives and limiting most of the Welcoat locals from chipping in any ample share were the factors why his team improved to 4-2, just half a game away from league-leaders Coca-Cola and Red Bull. “Santee usually penetrates and creates opportunities for his teammates and so their (Welcoat’s) plays usually emanate from him. So I told (Dennis) Miranda to concentrate on him,”said SLR coach Boyet Fernandez. “Si ‘Cap” (Dennis Espino) naman ang nag-take charge kay Gainous and he really did a terrific job defending him.” Those efforts left Santee and Gainous scoreless in the first quarter on a combined 0-of-7 field shooting, widely believed as the first time in the 33-year-old league two reinforcements went dry over a frame. The likes of Wesley Wilson and Ryan Reyes, meanwhile, took over spearheading the offense, propping the Realtors to as much as a 55-30 lead and well on their way to dropping their foes to a 2-5 slate. Welcoat’s hopes of notching a first-ever third straight win got a breath of life when Jay-R Reyes, Gainous and Robert Wainwright brought the Dragons within 62-71, still 5:01 left in the third period. But Fernandez re-assembled his team through a timely timeout and Reyes typified the resolve with eight straight points during a 10-2 run and SLR was suddenly, comfortably ahead anew 81-64. “I again told them what I emphasized at halftime, that Welcoat is very dangerous at siguradong babalik at babalik iyan,” related Fernandez. “I also told my players that we have to continue playing our defense.” The Dragons came no closer than 14 points the rest of the way, despite Jay-R Reyes’ 23 points and 8 rebounds. Gainous, averaging 27.5 points before the game, was held to only 14 and Santee, who had pregame averages of 17.7 ppg and 7.3 assists, limited to only 12 and 3. Wilson led all scorers with 24 points to go with 9 boards while Reyes added 19 and 6. Dennis Daa had a career-high 11 points while Kelly Williams chipped in 10 points and narrowly missed a double-double by just a rebound. Before notching back-to-back wins over Purefoods and Magnolia, Welcoat had lost 15 straight dating back to the Philippine Cup. Ironically, it was the Realtors themselves who started the Dragons’ skid with an 84-83 win last Nov. 21. There was to be no such close calls last night, not with Gainous going 0-of-4 from the field and Santee 0-of-3 in the opening quarter. With Wilson and Williams doing the most damage, SLR raced to a 29-15 lead which it padded to 61-40 at the half when the likes of Daa and Joseph Yeo joined the fray. (NCo) The scores: Sta. Lucia 111 -- Wilson 24, Reyes 19, Daa 11, Williams 10, Yeo 9, Omolon 8, Espino 8, Gonzales 8, Mamaclay 5, Miranda 4, Mendoza 3, Aquino 2, Pua 0. Welcoat 97 -- Reyes 23, Gainous 14, Santee 12, Mente 12, De Vance 10, Arana 8, Wainwright 7, Salangsang 3, Sta. Maria 3, Baguion 2, Gelig 2, Dulay 1, Isip 0, Ibanes 0. Quarterscores: 29-15, 61-40, 83-69, 111-97.