Bay Area became the first to reach the PBA Commissioner’s Cup quarterfinals after ripping NLEX, 118-98, Sunday night at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
The Dragons exploded for 38 points in the second quarter and broke the game wide open since on the way to their eighth win in 10 outings for the provisional second-seed stature previously held by the 7-2 Converge.
“We certainly understand this competition and how it operates, and finishing in the Top Two is an advantage. And we’re focused on trying to do that, more so than the quarterfinals,” said head coach Brian Goorjian.
Myles Powell led the way again with 36 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals, and a block but the others stepped up as well.
Glenn Yang had 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Hayden Blankley tallied a double-double of 13 points and 13 boards off the bench, while Kobey Lam chimed in 12 markers and six caroms in the 20-point rout.
Liu Chuanxing and Ju Mingxin contributed as well with 11 points apiece for the Dragons, who now won back-to-back since losing to Meralco.
The guest ball club from Hong Kong only has two games left in the elimination round, first against Magnolia (7-1) in a battle of the conference’s two best teams set next Saturday, November 19, at 6:45 p.m. at the Philsports Arena.
“The team is getting better, and it’ll give us a good indication of our situation going into the playoffs — what we need to work on, and what we’re good at, where we sit in this thing. ‘Cause we’ll be playing the best,” said Goorjian.
Meanwhile, Earl Clark had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead NLEX, who lost its fourth straight and fell to 11th in the standings toting a 3-6 record.
The Scores:
Bay Area 118 – Powell 36, Yang 15, Blankley 13, Lam 12, Ju 11, Liu 11, Zhu 9, Song 6, Reid 4, Zheng 1, Ewing 0, Si 0, Liang 0.
NLEX 98 – Clark 17, Trollano 15, Chua 15, Ganuelas-Rosser 12, Rosales 12, Alas 10, Paniamogan 6, Celda 5, Varilla 4, Miranda 2, Fonacier 0, Ighalo 0.
Quarterscores: 26-21, 64-45, 91-71, 118-98.
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The second game of each PBA gameday is live-streamed on SMART Sports.
