Belasco steps up in ‘The Rock’s’ absence to lead Tigers in upset win

FINALLY, Coca-Cola found a way to buck yet another absence.

Asi Taulava did not play but the old, usually fiery Nic Belasco showed up and the Tigers shocked San Miguel Beer, 105-91, Friday to stoke their hopes of realizing a modest goal in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Belasco made a big turnaround from a dismal showing in their last game by notching personal conference highs in points (23) and rebounds (15) to lead Coke's scrappy game despite the absence of their top scorer and rebounder.

Ace playmaker Alex Cabagnot returned to action after missing two games, but it was Belasco whom Tigers interim coach Kenneth Duremdes credited as the major factor for their snapping out of a three-game slide and improving their win-loss record to 6-10.

“Ang challenge ko sa mga players, wala ang main man. Good thing nag-respond ang lahat, lalo na si Nic,” said Duremdes of Belasco, who went 0-for-11 from the field and scored only two points in an 82-90 loss to Talk ‘N Text last Sunday.

“Nu'ng maganda ang ipinakita ni Nic, everybody followed,” added Duremdes, who also got 18 points from Ronjay Buenafe and 16 from Mark Macapagal.

San Miguel actually led by 11 points in the early goings, but became a disorganized lot in the windup and in the process got swallowed up by Coke's Belasco-sparked 10-0 run from the game's last deadlock at 87.

As a result, the Beermen dropped to a 9-7 win-loss slate despite Jay Washington's own personal conference high 25 points spiked by 13 rebounds.

The victory, however, is tempered by the knowledge Taulava's fractured left middle finger, suffered in the TNT game, may sideline him for as much as six to eight weeks, prompting Duremdes to lower his team's target from the original goal of an outright quarterfinals seat.

“Very slim na 'yung quarterfinals,” he assessed. “Kaya nga tinitingnan na lang namin ang wildcard.

“Ang sabi ni Asi, kung kailangan maglalaro siya. Pero titingnan muna namin kung kailangan pa siyang palaruin o complete rest na lang siya,” he added.

Belasco's jump hook started Coke's decisive run in which Mark Telan had five points and Buenafe added three to make it 97-87, exactly a minute left.

The Beermen also played minus center Dorian Pena, serving out a one-game suspension, but this shortage hardly mattered in the early goings, when they led by 53-42, and seemingly was a non-issue when Washington's jumper tied the game at 87, 3:43 left.

Some nifty shooting complemented SMB's height advantage as the Beermen shot 5-of-10 from beyond the arc and 7-of-11 from within in the second quarter to steadily pad a hairline 24-23 lead after the opening canto to a high of 11 and 55-49 at the half.

Then Coke's persistence started paying off, with Macapagal draining back-to-back triples to cap a 12-2 surge from a 49-57 deficit and into a 61-59 lead, 8:42 to go in the third.

The game remained close for the rest of the period, which ended with the Tigers toting a 77-73 cushion. (NCo)

The scores:

Coca-Cola 105 - Belasco 23, Buenafe 18, Macapagal 16, Calimag 9, Dimaunahan 9, Telan 9, Arigo 7, Santos 6, Rizada 4, Cabagnot 4, Misolas 0.

San Miguel Beer 91 - Washington 25, Tugade 21, Hontiveros 18, Baguion 7, Bono 6, Villanueva 5, Gonzales 4, Racela 3, Custodio 2, Eman 0, Pennisi 0.

Quarterscores: 23-24, 49-55, 77-73, 105-91.


http://www.pba.ph/content/view/2413/1/