AUSTRIA CREDITS PLAYERS FOR PH CUP SUCCESS

(UPDATE) LEO Austria moved up to a share of third in the all-time winningest coaches in the PBA following San Miguel Beer’s successful title-retention bid of their PBA Season 50 Philippine Cup on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

The Beermen poured their full offensive in the second half led by June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez and Rodney Brondial as they finished off the TNT Tropang 5G, 92-77 enroute to winning the title series, 4-2.

The championship is the 31st for SMB, the winningest ballclub in pro league history.

For Austria, his 11th title as head coach moves him to a tie for third overall with TNT’s Chot Reyes and Norman Black.

The late coaching great Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan is at second spot in the all-time list with 15, while Ginebra’s Tim Cone is on top with 25 league championships.

Austria humbly deflected the credit to the SMB players, acknowledging their sacrifices that enabled the Beermen to win their eighth Philippine Cup since the 2015 season.

“The real stars here are the (SMB) players,” Austria said in Filipino in his brief championship speech shortly after San Miguel won the series. “Because of them, I looked good again (as a coach).”

On the other hand, San Miguel team governor Robert Non believes Austria deserves the credit, too, given his now 11 PBA titles as a coach.

“Coach Leo is the one I consider as one of the top PBA coaches. I don’t know why he’s not cited but with these 11 championships, he now ties coach Chot,” said Non.

“It’s a milestone win in a milestone season for the PBA,” he added. “(That’s) back-to-back (All-Filipino) and hopefully, we get to win back-to-back (in Season 50).”

2026-02-02T16:14:43Z