BAY Area notched a coveted quarterfinals slot against a fading NLEX side and remained on track for a bigger prize last night.
The Dragons dumped the Road Warriors 118-98 for their second straight win and eighth overall in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
High-scoring import Myles Powell dazzled anew with a game-high 36 points, to go with eight rebounds, and six assists for Bay Area, while Glen Yang chipped in 15 markers, five boards, and five dimes.
Hayden Blankley also had 13 points, 14 rebounds, and six feeds, while Kobey Lam, Chuanxing Liu, and Mingxin Ju finished with 12, 11, and 11 markers, respectively, for the Dragons, who scored a big follow-up to their 120-87 manhandling of Rain or Shine three days ago and rose to 8-2 for solo second.
NLEX absorbed its fourth straight loss, counting a similarly lopsided 94-107 setback at the hands of NorthPort last Wednesday, and dropped to 3-6.
Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian said his charges are setting their sights on finishing their eliminations campaign with wins in their last two outings against Magnolia and TNT, squads he described as “two of the strongest teams” to gain a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.
“I felt comfortable that we were gonna make it to these playoffs with our tremendous start. Our focus is really good the last two games,” Goorjian said. “We played huge because what we’re learning about this competition is one advantage if you finish first or second and you’ve got that double try in the first round of the playoffs.”
“We have an opportunity to do that and leaning into the playoffs I think we’re playing two of the strongest teams. Like Myles (Powell) said, we’re excited about that and it’s in our destiny,” he added.
The Dragons came out with guns blazing and took a 64-45 spread at the halfway mark.
A Blankley slam dunk stretched Bay Area’s gap to as much as 71-45 with 9:31 left in the third quarter.
The foreign guest team was still in command 91-71 heading into the final canto and hardly met resistance from the Road Warriors the rest of the way.
Reinforcement Earl Clark carried the fight for NLEX with 17 points and 15 caroms, while Justin Chua and Don Trollano combined for 30 markers.
Kris Rosales, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, and Kevin Alas also got 12, 12, and 10 points, respectively, for the Road Warriors.
