By REYNALD MAGALLON
Leo Austria proved the lucky charm on a Friday the 13th as San Miguel Beer snapped a two-game slide with a rousing 106-88 victory over Terrafirma in the PBA Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Announced as the new head coach just hours before the game, Austria made a winning return and guided the Beermen in a fiery fourth quarter showing that saw them pull away from what initially looked like a competitive contest.
SMB was only leading by eight, 78-70, when it unloaded a back-breaking 16-4 run in the payoff period to tear the game apart and keep Terrafirma winless through five games.
New Beermen import Torren Jones also introduced himself with 24 points and 13 rebounds to form a dominant twin-tower combination with June Mar Fajardo who had 21 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists.
CJ Perez had 16 points while Juami Tiongson finished with 12 in his first game against his former team.
SMB finally got back on the winning track after losses to NLEX and Rain or Shine and improved its record to an even 2-2 slate.
Brandon Edwards led the Dyip with 18 points and 18 rebounds while rookie Mark Nonoy tried to provide support with 14.
Vic Manuel had 12 points against his former team that traded him and Terrence Romeo away for Tiongson and Andreas Cahilig.
Meanwhile, Barangay Ginebra turned to its defense and blasted Phoenix, 94-72, to claim its second win.
The Kings clamped down on the defensive end and limited the Fuel Masters to just seven points in the final frame to tear the game apart and improve to a 2-0 record after opening their campaign with a win against the NLEX Road Warriors just last Wednesday.
Ginebra had 26 points in the fourth quarter, enough to build a lead that went to as high as 26 points.
Scottie Thompson led the Kings with 17 points and six rebounds while Japeth Aguilar had 16 points and six rebounds as well.
Ginebra new acquisition Troy Rosario added 14 while RJ Abarrientos had half of his 12 points in the fourth quarter to help fuel the deciding run for the Kings. Justin Brownlee had a rather quiet night with 10 points although he had seven rebounds and seven assists.
The last conference’s runners-up were actually only up by six, 71-65, heading into the final frame when they unloaded 12 unanswered points to open the quarter.
