MANILA – Bay Area Dragons survived a tough stand by San Miguel Beermen to reach the finals of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup via a 94-92 escape in Game 4 of the semifinals last night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
From a tightly-contested battle since the opening quarter, the Dragons found themselves down 88-89 late in the fourth quarter before Kobe Lam and Andrew Nicholson drilled back-to-back shot clock-beating triples to take a 94-90 advantage.
The Beermen had opportunities to come close but Devon Scott missed two free throws while Jaymar Perez and Marcio Lassiter misfired their shot attempts with 34 seconds remaining.
Scott grabbed the offensive rebound and drew a foul and scored two free throws to cut the deficit to 92-94. The Beermen had a chance to tie the score but Perez missed his triple while teammate June Mar Fajardo also missed his inside attempt.
Nicholson finished the game with double-double 42 points and 21 rebounds, while Lam and Hayden Blankley added 26 and 12 markers, respectively. The Dragons clinched the best-of-five semis series at 3-1.
Perez top-scored for the Beermen with 28 points. Scott flirted with triple-double with 25 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists. Marcio Lassiter added 14 markers, while Fajardo had 12 rebounds to go with nine markers.
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings also reached the best-of-seven championship round after a 99-84 rout of Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots in Game 4 of their best-of-five semifinals.
Despite losing Christian Standhardinger as early as the first quarter due to ejection, the Gin Kings were still dominant in the opening half behind the hot hands of Justin Brownlee and LA Tenorio for a 53-41 halftime lead.
Ginebra went on to build its largest lead at 73-49 on a conversion by Japeth Aguilar but Magnolia made its last push at 74-87 before the Gin Kings regained its offense on inside shots by Aguilar to seal the championship seat.
Brownlee top-scored with 24 points, 16 rebounds and six assists, Aguilar added 19 markers, while Tenorio, Earl Scottie Thompson and Jamie Malonzo had 18, 14 and 10 points, respectively, for the Kings.
The championship series between the Dragons and the Gin Kings will begin on Christmas Day at five in the afternoon at the same venue.
BOX SCORE:
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./PN
