Bay Area Dragons’ import Myles Powell. –PBA IMAGES
MANILA, Philippines–Guest team Bay Area clinched the twice-to-beat advantage at the close of its elimination round campaign after zooming past slumping TNT, 140-108, in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Wednesday at Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Another splendid performance from import Myles Powell was backstopped by Zhu Songwei, Qilong Zheng and Kobey Lam as the Dragons finished with a 10-2 record while being assured of a top two finish going into the playoffs.
“It’s not really the scoreline, it’s all about that top two advantage because [the playoffs] is gonna be a different [and] something that we haven’t experienced yet ,” said Dragons coach Brian Goorjian after his team set a season-high for most points scored in a game.
The Dragons won all their eight matches in the eliminations while fielding the 6-foot-2 Powell, who wound up with 37 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
Powell produced 29 while Songwei scored 20 of his 22 during the first half as Bay Area set a season-high for points with 80 on a 55-percent shooting clip.
Lam made 22 of his 30 in the second half even as Zheng added 16, a testament to Goorjian’s satisfaction to the improved play of his locals.
TNT’s chances of making the quarterfinals became slimmer after dropping to 4-7 with a third straight loss and five of the last six.
The Tropang Giga, who played minus Jayson Castro due to an ankle injury, hope to stay alive when they face the San Miguel Beermen on Saturday at the same venue.
New import Matt Mobley scored 38 points for TNT after replacing the injured Cam Oliver.
The scores:
BAY AREA 140 — Powell 37, Lam 30, Zhu 22, Zheng 16, Reid 10, Yang 9, Song 7, Blankley 3, Ju 2, Liu 0, Zhang 0, Liang 0.
TNT 108 — Mobley 38, Pogoy 16, Erram 16, Tungcab 13, Williams M. 11, Oftana 9, Soyud 2, Ganuelas-Rosser 2, Marcelo 2, Khobuntin 0, Williams K. 0, Cruz 0, Heruela 0.
Quarters: 34-24, 80-60, 109-82, 140-108.