‘Unbelievable miracle’ for Beermen

MANILA, Philippines - Arwind Santos played 46:41 minutes and JuneMar Fajardo 44:55 but a visibly exhausted San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria looked more like a victim of fatigue after the Beermen nipped Alaska, 80-78, to wrap up the PBA Philippine Cup title in Game 7 of the Finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum the other night.

Austria, 56, was probably as relieved as he was tired when the final buzzer sounded. San Miguel frittered away a 23-point lead in the second period and fell behind by six, 74-68, on the heels of a fiery 11-0 Alaska surge with less than four minutes left then recovered to ice it with a 12-4 closing run. Austria called it an unbelievable miracle win. Santos, who hit a huge trey to turn a two-point deficit into a one-point lead at 79-78, said it was God’s hand that shot the triple. San Miguel reserve Ronald Tubid, tapped to fill in for Marcio Lassiter who fouled out, said he never prayed harder for Alaska’s Dondon Hontiveros to miss the technical foul shot after calling an over-the-limit timeout with 6.4 seconds to go and the Beermen up by two.

In the dugout celebrating the win, assistant coach Peter Martin led the prayer that included intentions for the full recovery of PBA legend Samboy Lim who suffered a cardiac arrest two months ago and remains bed-ridden. Martin said while San Miguel is grateful to God for the gift of triumph, the Beermen must never forget the Giver. “As (San Miguel center) Rico (Maierhofer) always reminds us, we play the game for the glory of God,” said Martin. “This victory was for the Lord to glorify Him.” Divine Providence was written all over the story of San Miguel’s incredible win over a stubborn Alaska squad that came back from a pair of 22-point deficits to take Game 1, a 21-point third quarter disadvantage to claim Game 3 and a 14-point first period hole to snatch Game 6.

“I told (Alaska coach) Alex (Compton) we both deserve to win the championship,” said Austria who was Welcoat head coach when Compton was a playing import then an assistant in his staff. “Unfortunately, only one team can win and fortunately, it was us. Alex and I are friends. I respect him a lot and in the Finals, he showed his ability to coach. We embraced after Game 7 and he told me how happy he is for me winning the championship.” It was the first PBA title in Austria’s resume and his second with San Miguel after leading the Beermen to the ABL crown two years ago.

Austria said while Alaska stamped its class as a tough defensive team in the Finals, San Miguel pulled out the win in Game 7 with multiple stops in the closing minutes. “We broke through their defense in the last few minutes while our defense preserved our lead,” he said. The Aces had a chance to steal it in the end with a three-point shot but Jvee Casio’s heave from beyond the arc fell short of the target. “We knew Jvee was going to take the shot so we made sure to close out,” said Austria. “They were running pick-and-roll for Sonny (Thoss) and Jvee so we knew what we had to do. Ronald did a good job of contesting the shot.”

Austria admitted that when Alaska recovered from 23 down to lead by six in the fourth period, he got seriously worried. “I didn’t want to show it to the guys,” said Austria. “I just told them not to give up, that we were down by just two possessions and there was a lot of time to get back the lead. I knew JuneMar and Arwind were tired. But this was the last game. They told me they were ready to play 40 minutes. I wanted our best guys out there because I knew they would win the game for us.”

In the fourth period, Austria gambled by bringing in Ronald Pascual and Jeric Fortuna for about 2 1/2 minutes. “We were in foul trouble and our guys were tired,” said Austria. “I’ve been criticized for using a short rotation but it’s the Finals. I had to go with our best players. But with guys in foul trouble and our ballhandlers so tired in playing against the press, I had to bring in Ronald and Jeric. That bought us some rest for Alex (Cabagnot) and Chris (Lutz).”

Austria said Santos’ crucial triple was a perfect shot. “We wanted the ball with JuneMar inside but we also wanted it with Arwind outside,” he said. “That’s our inside-outside attack. Arwind isn’t a post-up player, he plays outside. When he took that shot, I knew it was going in. That was his kind of shot and he was in the right spot to take it.”

Austria paid tribute to Tubid for his gutsy play down the stretch. Tubid defended Casio on the final play and finished with 12 points. Of all the Beermen, Tubid has the most Finals appearances with six and most titles with three. The 33-year-old veteran exemplified the tenacity that San Miguel showed in carving out the hard-fought win in Game 7.

Austria said he owed the win to San Miguel Corp. president Ramon S. Ang. “In the morning of the game, I took a walk for about an hour around our subdivision and left my cellphone at home,” he said. “When I got back home, I saw I had about 20 missed calls from Boss RSA. I finally got to speak with him and apologized for missing his calls. He told me a win in Game 7 is history in the making and reminded me about the importance of playing defense. Personally, I’m very grateful to Boss RSA for giving me this opportunity to coach San Miguel. This win is for him.”