BY NOLI CORTEZ
WHEN Alaska gets its act together, the Aces
can wield an awesome juggernaut.
Welcoat found this out the painful way
after the Aces ran roughshod over the Dragons 99-78 last night
in the Talk N Text-PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
Rosell Ellis was his usual do-it-all self,
scoring 18 points, grabbing seven rebounds, dishing off six
times and swatting away three shots as Alaska made a big
comeback from a 113-124 overtime loss to Red Bull last week.
"When you have Rosell Ellis on your team
you don’t suffer any letdowns. All week since that loss to Red
Bull he was constantly pushing and getting at our guys," said
winning coach Tim Cone. "Our leadership has been greatly
enhanced with Rosell here."
The locals responded with Sonny Thoss
scattering 16 points to lead four other Alaska players in
double figures, helping make sure the Aces were never headed
in the match en route to their third win in four games and a
tie with Red Bull and Coca-Cola.
The Tigers, however, can break out of that
tie for second-running position should they prevail over the
Ginebra Kings, themselves aiming to notch their third straight
win and improve their own win-loss slate to 3-1, today at The
Arena in San Juan.
Charles Clark had game-highs of 29 points
and 11 rebounds, but save for Jay-R Reyes, who chipped in 18
points, no other Welcoat player lent able support and the
Dragons absorbed their second straight setback and dropped to
1-3.
Cone noted his boys’ terrific defensive job
that saw them limit Welcoat to just 30.6 percent field
shooting (11-of-36) in the first half and 34.8 percent
(24-of-69) for the entire game.
In contrast, the Aces finished the game
with a whopping 51.9percent (40-of-77) for their highest field
shooting yet in the season-ending tournament.
"Everybody on this team is a stopper, so we should be a
really good defensive team," said Cone. "Tonight we were able
to establish our defensive intensity and that keyed our
offense."
