Welcoat grounds Air21

Welcoat made a decisive endgame charge to force overtime then hung tough in the extra period as the league newcomer scored its first win over Air21 in their personal match-ups in the pros.

Charles Clark sizzled with 40 points and 21 rebounds and the Dragons outlasted the Express, 103-99, snapping their three-game losing skein in the Talk n Text PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum last night.

The Dragons came back to life following embarrassing losses to the Alaska Milk Aces and the Talk n Text Phone Pals where they’re beaten by an average margin of 21.5 points.

"We had a series of meetings and discussions after those two blowout losses. After evaluating things, we found out we’re no longer executing well on both ends of the court," said Welcoat coach Leo Austria.

"We have no marquee players in our lineup. The only way for us to be competitive is to execute our plays and patterns. We did that tonight," Austria added.

The Dragons worked with cohesion with Jay-R Reyes, Denver Lopez, Rob Wainwright and Alex Compton also coming through with significant numbers as they nailed their second win in six starts in the season-ending tourney.

Welcoat had lost 13 of its last 14 games dating back to the first conference before taking on Air21. The Dragons were swept in two games by the Express in the All-Filipino.

The Express took control most of the way but committed crucial errors at crunch time as they suffered a second straight loss after four successive victories.

"Probably, they’re already tired having played three overtime games in their last four outings. Our team, on the other hand, was well rested and we called on Charles Clark to work hard at the paint," said Austria.

The Dragons overcame an early 14-point deficit and even had a chance to win the game in regulation but Wainwright’s layup was blocked by Shawn Daniels just before the buzzer sounded.

Clark scored on a short stab then Lopez rifled in a trey as the Dragons took the lead to stay at 100-95 in the extension play.

The Express eventually yielded the game as Wynne Arboleda committed a receiving error on a pass by Arwind Santos with Air21 down by three, 99-102, with time down to 16 seconds.