This time, it was the Bay Area Dragons’ turn to dominate as they pulled off a 99-82 swamping of the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Gin Kings in Game 2 of the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioners’ Cup Best-of-Seven Finals Wednesday night at the Araneta Coliseum.
Andrew Nicholson led the charge with a monster double-double of 30 points and 15 rebounds for the Dragons, who equalized the series at 1-1.
Nicholson banged in 12 points in the second period, including five points during a decisive 9-0 blast, which saw the Dragons moving away with from a shaky 27-24 lead and into a 36-24 spread.
The Gin Kings, led by Justine Brownlee with 32 points and 11 boards, went on to experience their biggest halftime deficit, after the Dragons finished the half with a 17-point edge, 52-35, off Hayden Blankly’s triple with a second left in the second quarter.
The last time Ginebra experienced this situation in a finals’ game was when the Meralco Bolts led the Kings, 63-46, in Game 2 of the 2019 Governors’ Cup title series at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena. The Bolts barely won that game in the end, 104-102.
A matchup between Zhu Songwei, who had 25 points, and Brownlee transpired in the fourth period, as the 6’9” Chinese cager was able to hold down the Gin King cager to just nine points in the last 12 minutes.
“Brownlee’s the key situation. We talked about this. He (Zhu) got three fouls early. He is a matchup to Brownlee. Tonight, Brownlee started on this team that’s well-disciplined and well-coached. Brownlee was a key factor. And they matched it up tonight, but he (Zhu) kept it under control and this helped us get the win,” said Dragons’ coach Brian Goorjian.
With the series tied, the Gin Kings and the Dragons will seek to break the deadlock in Game 3 on Jan. 4.
Nicholson was held to seven points in the third period as the Gin Kings fought back to within eight points at the end of the third period, 60-68. Brownlee shot nine points at the start of the second half, with Stanley Pringle ending the third with a layup in the final 33 seconds, to put Ginebra close by eight.
Coming back with seven points in the final period, Nicholson led another 9-0 spurt, and the Dragons went on to enjoy a 15-point edge, off Glen Yang’s free throw, 87-72, with 9:57 remaining.
The Dragons also won the board battle with 11 rebounds, with Nicholson hauling four.
The Scores:
BAY AREA 99 – Nicholson 30, Zhu 25, Blankley 17, Lam 11, Ju 9, Yang 5, Reid 2, Song 0
GINEBRA 82 – Brownlee 32, Malonzo 10, Thompson 9, Tenorio 8, Standhardinger 8, Pinto 5, J.Aguilar 5, R.Aguilar 3, Pringle 2, Gray 0, Mariano 0
QUARTERS: 22-16, 52-35, 68-60, 99-82