Dragons dethrone Beermen

Bay Area overcame a gallant stand by San Miguel and booked a ticket to the championship round of the PBA Season 47 Commissioner’s Cup via 94-92 victory in Game 4 of the semifinals, Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The Dragos won the series, 3-1, to effectively dethrone the Beermen and advance into the Finals where they’ll face elimination round tormentor Brgy. Ginebra in a best-of-seven affair.

“Excited to be in the final. Nothing but respect for Tim Cone, they dominated the semifinals, they dominated the quarterfinals, they dominated the final stretch of the season,” said Bay Area head coach Brian Goorjian on his upcoming battle with the league’s winningest bench tactician.

“They dominated us the first time they played us. So I’m hoping we got better,” he added in reference to the guest team’s lopsided defeat to the Gin Kings in the elimination round.

Andrew Nicholson once again proved to be the difference-maker after the former NBA player tallied 42 points highlighted by 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc to go with 21 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in 45 minutes of action.

“We showed great composure towards the end. They made a big run and we answered back defensively, made the right decisions and played through adversity,” said Nicholson during the post-game presser.

Kobey Lam finished with 26 points while Hayden Blankley added 12.

CJ Perez led the Beermen with 28 points in 34 minutes of play. Devon Scott and Marcio Lassiter contributed 25 and 14 points, respectively while June Mar Fajardo was limited to 9 markers on a forgettable 4-of-15 shooting from the field.

The scores:

Bay Area 94 – Nicholson 42, Lam 26, Blankley 12, Zhu 7, Yang 3, Ju 2, Song 2, Liu 0, Reid 0.

San Miguel 92 – Perez 28, Scott 25, Lassiter 14, Fajardo 9, Enciso 5, Cruz 4, Brondial 4, Romeo 3, Ross 0, Manuel 0.

Quarterscores: 17-16, 46-38, 69-72, 94-92.