Donbel Belano

Donbel Belano
Personal information
Born (1976-12-24) December 24, 1976 (age 47)
Tagum, Davao del Norte, Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Listed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight178 lb (81 kg)
Career information
CollegeUV
PBA draft1999: 1st round, 14th
Selected by the Pop Cola Panthers
Playing career1999–2010
PositionPoint guard
Number42
Coaching career2001–2014
Career history
As player:
1999–2000Davao Eagles
2001–2002Sta. Lucia Realtors
2002–2009Talk 'N Text Phone Pals
2009–2010Barako Bull Energy Boosters
2010Sta. Lucia Realtors
As coach:
2011–2014UV Green Lancers
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As head coach:

Felix "Donbel" Belano (born December 24, 1976) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and coach. Belano is just one of two players in Philippine professional basketball to achieve a quadruple-double in a single game, the other being Kyt Jimenez.

Belano played college basketball for the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers. After his college career, Belano played briefly in the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), where he tallied a historic quadruple-double. He later played for nine years in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Upon retiring from playing, Belano went into coaching, including a stint with his alma mater, the UV Green Lancers, for three years, leading them to the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) title in 2013.

Playing career

[edit]

Belano started his professional basketball career with the Davao Eagles in the Metropolitan Basketball Association.

On August 14, 1999, he earned the distinction as the first player to record a quadruple-double in the annals of Philippine basketball during a game against Willie Miller-led Nueva Ecija Patriots, when he tallied 17 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and 10 steals. With this feat, he changed his jersey number from 9 to 42. He was named the rookie of the year in the 1999 season.[1] It would be the only such quadruple-double until Kyt Jimenez of the Sarangani Marlins did it in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League during the 2022 season.[2]

He was drafted 14th overall by Pop Cola in the 1999 PBA Draft but did not play a single game with the franchise. In 2001, he signed with Sta. Lucia Realtors as a free agent. In May 2002, he was traded to Talk 'N Text for Gherome Ejercito.

His stint with the Talk 'N Text would be the most remarkable in his career. During Game 7 of the 2007 PBA Fiesta Conference finals against the Alaska Aces, he had a shot that would have taken the lead & possibly bring home the trophy for the Phone Pals. At the end of the season 2009, he was left unsigned. Before the start of the 2010 season, he was signed by the Barako Bull Energy Boosters. Then, before the Fiesta Conference, he was acquired by the Sta. Lucia Realtors and played with the team until it disbanded.

After Sta. Lucia's disbandment and eventual sale to Meralco, with no team to sign up with, he decided to retire.

Coaching career

[edit]

Belano served as the head coach of his alma mater, the University of the Visayas Green Lancers in the CESAFI.[3] He helped the Green Lancers win the title against the SWU Cobras in 2013 after being down 0–2 of their best-of-five series.[4] After losing to the USC Warriors during the final four, he was fired at the end of the 2014 CESAFI season.[5]

Belano has pioneered the Outstanding Basketball Enhancement for the Youth, otherwise known as OBEY,[6] which offers PBA-based basketball training to private institutions in Cebu, trailblazing basketball sport as a career path of choice for the new generation of K-12 learners.

PBA career statistics

[edit]
Legend
  GP Games played   GS Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

[7]

Season-by-season averages

[edit]
Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001 Sta. Lucia 48 21.1 .352 .314 .755 2.7 2.1 .9 .0 6.7
2002 Sta. Lucia 37 13.4 .343 .233 .667 1.4 1.3 .3 .0 3.5
Talk 'N Text
2003 Talk 'N Text 53 14.0 .347 .291 .708 1.6 2.1 .7 .0 4.3
2004–05 Talk 'N Text 79 16.0 .391 .259 .673 1.7 2.0 .7 .1 5.1
2005–06 Talk 'N Text 28 18.8 .412 .370 .674 2.1 2.0 .8 .1 7.5
2006–07 Talk 'N Text 62 24.3 .375 .311 .547 3.0 3.3 1.1 .0 6.7
2007–08 Talk 'N Text 33 16.2 .409 .306 .625 1.9 2.2 .7 .1 4.7
2009–10 Barako Bull 28 17.4 .381 .306 .533 1.8 2.1 .5 .1 4.3
Sta. Lucia
Career 368 17.9 .375 .300 .650 2.1 2.2 .7 .1 5.4

Personal life

[edit]

He is married to Liza May Viajante, a pediatrician, with whom he has four children, Patrick Yuan Emmanuel, Andrei Siegdon Nathanael, Damian Felix Zuriel, and Marquita Dawn Felicia. They now reside in Cebu City.[citation needed]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Felix Belano: Jersey # 42 ex-Lancer, MBA record holder". The Philippine STAR.
  2. ^ "News you need to know: Kyt quadruple double, Belga woes, Goorjian 'temper'". Spin.ph. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  3. ^ "UV officially names Belano its new coach". INQUIRER.net. Archived from the original on October 30, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  4. ^ "UV LANCERS ARE CESAFI CHAMPIONS!". Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  5. ^ Panerio, Jonas. "UV Green Lancers fire Donbel Belano, name Cortes new coach at end of dismal season". Spin.ph. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  6. ^ "OBEY Basketball Camp - Gym". Facebook.
  7. ^ "Felix Belano Player Profile - PBA-Online.net". PBA-Online.net. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015.
Preceded by UV Green Lancers men's basketball head coach
2011-2014
Succeeded by