After being held to only five points in the first three periods, Ronnie Matias racked up 13 big points in the fourth quarter to pilot the Air21 Express to an exciting 113-108 win against the Barako Coffee Masters on Sunday for first win in the 35th PBA Fiesta Conference.

The Express gave up their best defensively and offensively for the sake of the cheering fans at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City that also earned them a 1-1 record after a close 87-92 setback in their opening game against San Miguel Beer last Wednesday.

“I just keep playing every game. It really looks good to see that I’m helping our team,” said Matias, who shot a perfect 2-of-2 beyond the arc, tallied 4-of-6 in the field for 18 points and sank 4-of-5 in the foul line.. “My teammates also deserved a credit on this victory.”

Playmaker Mike Cortez, who had a forgettable debut with only four points against his former team San Miguel Beer last week, came up big this time tallying in 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the field along with five assists and three steals.

The game went close at the first half, 55-52, with both teams exchanging baskets and everything stayed the same in the final third period mark when the Express took a short 84-79 spread at the start of the fourth quarter.

Cortez hit a triple for Air21’s biggest margin 99-89 with six minutes left, but Barako Coffee responded with a blitzing 9-0 run capped by Jerwin Gaco’s five straight points to trim down the gap to only 98-99 after Robert Wainwright’s triple with only 4:23 left.

Wainwright finished with 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from downtown.

But effective import Keena Young, who led the Express anew with 25 points along with 16 rebounds and five assists, capped Air21’s 9-3 counter run to provide them a 108-101 advantage. From thereon, the Express were never threatened.

“Our zone defense works effectively against (Sammy) Monroe although I do not like playing zone,” said Air21 head coach Yeng Guiao, who praised all his players including Matias. “Ronnie is becoming so steadier nowadays. He really plays big for us.”

“We have a good bench production which I think our players are now starting to become familiar with each other,” he said. “This win is a great morale booster to our next game against Coca-Cola on Wednesday before the Holy Week break.”

Ronjay Buenafe and Renren Ritualo contributed with 13 points each, while veteran Egay Billones had nine points for the Express, who bounced back from an opening game loss against the San Miguel Beermen, 92-97, last Wednesday.

Sammy Monroe of Barako Coffee led his team with 36 points along with 15 rebounds and eight assists for a near triple-double feat.

But the rock-solid defense of the Express were enough to handle the rest of the Coffee Masters.

It was also a good shooting night for the Air21 Express, as they shot 35-of-69 total field goals (50.7%), while the Barako Coffee Masters tallied 41-of-95 (43.2%).

After a disappointing 23-of-40 attempts in the foul line against San Miguel Beer in previous game, Air21 improved to 33-of-43 (76%) and had 10 triples against the seven of Barako.

The Express had 26 assists against 18 of their opponent.