
San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria said it was fun facing former player Arwind Santos for the first time in a match that ended with his team pulling off a narrow victory over NorthPort in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
The Beermen held on for a 91-88 win Sunday, Dec. 12 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City at the expense of the Batang Pier and Santos, who was traded last month after 12 years playing for the fabled franchise.
Austria said nothing has changed even if Santos replaced his red uniform with a lighter shade of orange.
“It was fun,” Austria said. “Before the start of the game, we met at the holding area for the swab and tinuro nga ni Arwind na ‘Coach, ang nangyari lang e iba na yung uniform ko ngayon.’ We’re still friends.”
Santos finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and two steals but NorthPort fell behind by 27 points in the third.
But he along with Robert Bolick and rookie Jamie Malonzo conspired on a fourth quarter rally that came up short when NorthPort couldn’t convert a game-tying three twice in the final seconds.
Austria is glad that there seems to be a newfound joy in Santos’ game despite NorthPort’s 0-3 start.
Santos is averaging 22.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.7 blocks in three games. He recently became the seventh player in PBA history to block 900 shots in a heartbreaking overtime loss to NLEX two days earlier.
“I'm happy for him dahil it seems na nageenjoy siya sa game niya dun sa NorthPort,” said Austria. “Sabi ko nga before, nagbe-benefit sa kanya ang NorthPort as of now.”