MANILA – Myles Powell took over in the endgame as Bay Area Dragons escaped with an 87-84 win over Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings in Game 6 of the 2022-2023 PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals last night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Down 78-82 with over six minutes left, Hayden Blankley cut the deficit to 81-82 with a three-pointer before Powell scored back-to-back layups to give the Dragons an 85-82 advantage.
Justin Brownlee cut the deficit to 84-85 with a layup and the Gin Kings had opportunities to take the lead but misfired their attempts. Two free throws by Powell widened Bay Area’s lead to 87-84 before Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Powell, who was activated in lieu of injured Andrew Nicholson, led the way with 29 points, including five three-pointers, to go with seven rebounds and three assists as the Dragons tied the best-of-seven championship series at 3-3.
Blankley chipped in 23 markers, including six outside conversions. Songwei Zhu had 10 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, while Glen Yang returned from injury with 10 markers for the Dragons.
The Dragons were aggressive since the opening quarter behind outside conversions from Blankley and Powell for a 25-20 lead. The lead grew further in the second period as it reached 48-37 on a layup by Powell.
Bay Area went on to build its largest lead at 58-46 early in the third quarter on back-to-back treys by Yang and Kobey Lam but Brownlee took over for the Gin Kings to cut the deficit to 64-66 after three quarters.
The Gin Kings kept the momentum in the fourth quarter as they took a 73-66 lead on conversions by Japeth Aguilar and Christian Standhardinger but three-pointers by Powell tied the score at 78-all.
Barangay Ginebra took the lead at 80-78 on a fallaway basket by Standhardinger before the lead was widened for the last time at 82-78 on a fastbreak layup by Earl Scottie Thompson.
Brownlee had triple-double 37 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to go with four steals and four blocks, while Aguilar and Standhardinger chipped in 12 markers apiece for the Gin Kings.
The league will take a three-day break before playing the do-or-die Game 7 between the Gin Kings and the Dragons on Sunday night at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
BOX SCORE:
BAY AREA 87 – Powell 29, Blankley 23, Yang 10, Zhu 10, Lam 9, Liu 4, Reid 2, Ju 0, Zheng 0.
GINEBRA 84 – Brownlee 37, J. Aguilar 12, Standhardinger 12, Pringle 8, Thompson 8, Malonzo 4, Pinto 3, Tenorio 0, Gray 0.
Quarterscores: 25-20, 50-42, 66-64, 87-84./PN
