Bay Area (in white) 130, Terrafirma 76 (Courtesy of Bay Area Dragons Facebook)
MANILA – Bay Area came close to setting a new Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) record for the biggest winning margin ever, taking down Terrafirma by 54 points, 130-76, at their Commissioner's Cup match at PhilSports Arena in Pasig on Friday.
The Dragons' domination of the Dyip was the biggest since the Shell Turbochargers clobbered the Tanduay Rhum Masters also by 54 points, 154-100, in the 1986 Open Conference.
It was also the third time that a team won by 54 points, counting U-Tex's 170-116 victory over Fiberglass in the 1976 Open Conference.
Bay Area came just one point shy of matching the all-time record winning margin of 55 points, also set by U-Tex in a 154-99 win over Great Taste in the 1980 Open Conference.
Andrew Nicholson was on fire right from the start to lead the now 6-1 Dragons, scoring 19 points in the first quarter and 31 by halftime, the most in the first two quarters since import Justin Brownlee sizzled early for 33 points in the first half of Barangay Ginebra's 2019 Governors' Cup game in Dubai against the NLEX Road Warriors.
Nicholson wound up with 37 points, along with 10 rebounds and an assist, when he was subbed out for good with 2 minutes and 48 seconds left in the third quarter.
Juami Tiongson tallied 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting, two rebounds, two assists, and one steal for the Dyip, who dropped their 22nd straight game overall and to 0-6 in the conference.
In the next game, Converge denied San Miguel Beer a comeback win by rallying late as well to seal a 106-102 win.
Aljun Melecio produced a career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 field goal shooting for the FiberXers.
The FiberXers blew a 17-point lead but still prevailed to improve to 3-2 while spoiling the debut of new Beermen import Devon Scott.
Scott had 16 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks in his first game as Diamond Stone's replacement but could not lift San Miguel, which dropped to 1-3.
The scores:
First Game
BAY AREA 130 – Nicholson 37, Zheng 17, Song 15, Zhu 12, Blankley 9, Lam 9, Yang 8, Si 7, Liu 5, Liang 4, Zhang 3, Reid 2, Ju 2.
TERRAFIRMA 76 – Tiongson 21, Prosper 18, Munzon 9, Cahilig 8, Camson 5, Gomez de Liano 4, Alolino 4, Mina 3, Calvo 2, Gabayni 2, Javelona 0, Ramos 0, Grospe 0, Balagasay 0.
Quarters: 35-18, 67-37, 101-62, 130-76
Second Game
CONVERGE 106 – Miller 24, Melecio 18, Teng 13, DiGregorio 12, Ahanmisi 10, Bulanadi 8, Ilagan 8, Arana 7, Tratter 3, Stockton 3, Hill 0.
SAN MIGUEL 102 – Perez 29, Tautua 21, Scott 16, Lassiter 7, Enciso 6, Herndon 6, Manuel 6, Brondial 3, Ross 0.
Quarters: 33-24, 59-48, 86-79, 106-102 (PNA)
