Beermen gun for 5th title sweep over Aces

ALASKA’S Chris Banchero tries to deny San Miguel’s Arwind Santos room to maneuver in Wednesday’s Game 3 at the Big Dome. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Leo Austria is no stranger to titanic comebacks.

And since he had a first-hand account of what was the biggest championship series rally in the PBA at that time, San Miguel Beer’s coach wants to move heaven and earth to help prevent that from happening to his Beermen.

With a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven series for the Governors’ Cup against Alaska, Austria said he will exhaust all means to end it all at 7 p.m. today when the Beermen gun for just the fifth championship-showdown sweep in league history at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

11 previous 0-3 holes

No team in 11 previous instances in the league ever climbed out of a 0-3 hole.

But Austria was there as a player for the defunct Shell squad—and on the floor trying to stop Rudy Distrito—when Ginebra San Miguel came roaring back from a 1-3 deficit to win the 1991 Reinforced Conference title that had been conceded to Austria and his teammates just days before.

“I don’t want that to happen to us,” Austria said in Filipino, as he tried to fend off suggestions that it’s all over but the shouting after the Beermen’s thrilling 96-89 victory over the Aces on Wednesday night.

‘I was there when it happened’

“I was there when it happened; I was even the last man trying to stop (Distrito) in that play after he lost his man,” Austria added. “Anything can happen and Alaska is known as the comeback kings (of the season).”

Save for the 108-78 series-opening win by the Beermen, San Miguel had to scramble hard to pull through.

“We have been coming up with comebacks of our own, though,” Austria said.

The results of the last two games may have been bitter pills for the Aces to swallow, but the squad is not expected to just go through the motions tonight.

“If San Miguel is to win this series, they will have to earn it,” Alaska coach Alex Compton said.

The 11 previous 3-0 situations in Finals series history saw only one team—Alaska in 1997—that was able to take the series to a Game 6, with the then Milkmen eventually losing, 4-2, to Gordon’s Gin (Ginebra’s former name).

Six ended in Game 5 and only four have completed sweeps—which could be the biggest motivation for San Miguel as it tries to complete a banner season. The Beermen also ruled the Philippine Cup in seven pulsating games, also against the Aces.

Meanwhile, the Leo Awards, the ceremony honoring the best individual performers of the season, will precede the game with San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo to be named the MVP for the second straight year.

Members of the Mythical First and Second Teams will also be feted, along with the Rookie of the Year, where Globalport’s Stanley Pringle is the frontrunner, and members of the All-Defensive Team.