It seems like Blackwater Elite have a knack for rewriting their franchise’s history books
After earning their first-ever win over the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters last December 29, 2017, the Elite followed it up with another first as they downed the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Friday night — their first victory over the Gin Kings in the Philippine Cup.
Blackwater are now riding a two-game winning streak after a rude welcome to the season at the hands of the Meralco Bolts. And for sophomore forward Mac Belo, what lies behind this success of theirs is their blossoming chemistry.
“Gumaganda pa ang chemistry namin,” expressed the soft-spoken 24-year-old moments after their 94-77 demolition of the Barangay at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
“Kailangan lang naming ipagpatuloy yung ganoon.”
Belo made his presence felt in the victory with 22 points and seven rebounds. This is now the former FEU Tamaraw’s second straight 20-point outing, with the first one coming at the expense of the Elasto Painters, where he had 25 markers.
But the North Cotabato-born cager deflected all the praises to his teammates especially to Poy Erram, who produced 22 and 11 rebounds and did his best to contain Ginebra’s twin towers Greg Slaughter and Japeth Aguilar.
“Nag-double effort talaga kami kasi maliliit kami,” praised the Gilas Pilipinas member.
“Si Poy lang ang medyo matangkad sa amin. Good thing na si Poy nagstep up, nagtriple effort pa siya against Japeth and Slaughter.”
Belo and the rest of the Elite are elated with what they have achieved Friday. But ever-humble, the one-time UAAP champion iterated that he and his team still have a lot of work to do to perform better in the 2018 Philippine Cup
“Very special sa amin itong panalo na ito dahil first game in 2018. Pagpasok pa lang sa dugout, talagang gustong gusto naming manalo,” shared the six-foot-fpur Belo, who is averaging exactly 20.0 points and 5.0 rebounds.
“(Pero) Marami pa kaming dapat iimprove as a team.”
