Agustin triumphant in SMB coaching debut

In his debut game as head mentor of the winningest team in the Philippine Basketball Association, former collegiate coach Ato Agustin wasted no time in proving his worth in the big league. Just a few days after assuming his new post as the official head coach of San Miguel Beer, the 1992 PBA Most Valuable Player brought a new identity to the Beermen’s camp – a team that refuses to lose. That new identity was very much evident Sunday night in the Beermen’s come-from-behind 69-68 win over the Ginebra Gin Kings in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. “We want to establish a running team. We want to use our quickness, especially on the defensive end," said Agustin, who became the first former San Miguel Beer MVP to coach the team and the sixth former MVP since Robert Jaworski, Bogs Adornado, Ramon Fernandez, Allan Caidic and Kenneth Duremdes to become head mentor in the PBA. “We were outhustled in the first half. We picked up the tempo in the third period when we made adjustments on the defensive end," added one of the league’s 25 Greatest Players.

The Beermen fought back from 21 points down by patiently making one stop after another and slowly but surely creating big plays to turn a one-sided game into an exciting match. It was the PBA's lowest-scoring game since Purefoods defeated Barako Bull, 70-66, on December 9 last year. The Beermen outscored the Gin Kings in the third period, 28-9, and turned a 31-46 deficit to a 59-55 lead by the end of the quarter. Their defense went from aggressive to efficient in the fourth period as they held the Gin Kings to a lone field goal in a seven-minute stretch, with the Beermen posting their biggest lead, 66-59, on a triple by Joseph Yeo, 7:06 remaining. After Ronald Tubid’s failed three-point play off Yeo broke Ginebra’s silence from the field, the Gin Kings were again held without a field goal in the next three minutes. Despite struggling on their offense, the Gin Kings gallantly stayed in the game, with Willie Miller putting Ginebra within striking distance, 68-69, 41 seconds remaining. The Gin Kings had a chance to snatch the win after making a good stop on the Beermen’s next offensive thrust. But a lot of time was wasted as Ginebra players didn’t hear Jong Uichico hollering for a timeout. When they finally did, it left the game clock with only six seconds for the Gin Kings to come up with a winning play. Uichico decided to go to Miller, but the player considered as one of the best closers in the league dribbled the ball off his foot against the defense of Arwind Santos, enabling the Beermen to escape with their second win in three matches. - KY, GMANews.TV