Welcoat Paints shoots for a franchise record third straight victory today when it tangles with Sta. Lucia realty in the Smart-PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.

Hoping to use the momentum of their back-to-back victories, the Dragons hope to spew fire against the Realtors in their 4:30 p.m. encounter.

Meeting in the second game at 6:50 p.m. are Alaska Milk and Talk ’N Text.

Alaska and TNT battled in a classic seven-game championship showdown in this same conference a year ago and although no title is at stake this time, a tight encounter is expected as both teams are aching to improve their standings in the 10-team league.

Talk ’N Text (4-2) is coming off an impressive 116-99 win over Air21 last April 22 in a game where the Phone Pals set a new all-time high record of 23 three-point conversions that erased the previous 18 by Presto and Tivoli in the late 80s.

On the other hand, Alaska will be coming off back-to-back losses, including a 79-86 defeat from Air21 last Friday when it played sans suspended import Randy Holcomb.

The 6-foot-9 Holcomb, who was also fined R20,000 for his upgraded Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 that broke the nose of Red Bull forward Rich Alvarez, will join the team and will be pitted against the 6-foot-10 shooter Aaron MacGhee of Talk ’N Text.

However, the spotlight will be trained the Tigers, who carry a 2-4 card that matched the team’s start in its first three conferences since joining the PBA last season.

After dropping its first four games and 15 since the previous Philippine Cup, the Dragons finally found a way to win by beating the Giants of Purefoods TJ Hotdogs (110-103) last April 20 and followed it up with a victory opposite the Magnolia Beverage Masters (108-101) last Wednesday.

Now, the franchise owned by Raymund Yu and Terry Que hopes to beat a team that ended its two-game winning run with an 84-83 squeaker last Nov. 21 and started that 15-game skid, the third all-time record for consecutive setbacks.

To win against the Realtors (3-2), coach Caloy Garcia is putting premium on defense.

“They’re a great defensive team,” he said. “So we have to match up with their aggressiveness in defense and execute well in our offense.”

Even SLR mentor Boyet Fernandez is wary against Welcoat, saying: “There confidence is very high, winning two straight is a big morale booster.”

“I do credit Welcoat’s coaching staff for their winning ways. I just hope that my team realizes that Welcoat is a very dangerous team right now. We also need to win in order to stay within striking distance with the leaders.”

One thing going, however, for the Realtors is their drive to end a two-game skid, which Fernandez is confident they can achieve.

“We have to come out strong for the get go,” Fernandez said. “We lost two straight already, we all know we need to bounce back and this game is very crucial.

In their two setbacks against Talk ’N text (113-115) and Coca-Cola (88-95), Fernandez said he takes the blame and hopes the adjustment he made will be enough to counter Welcoat’s advantage of using two imports in Marquise Gainous and Corey Santee.