Kobey Lam scored the winning basket as the Bay Area Dragons barely scraped past the San Miguel Beermen, 103-102, on Wednesday to take Game 1 of their Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup semifinal series at the Philsports Arena.
Lam hit the go-ahead lay-up off a fastbreak with seven seconds left, handing the Dragons the marginal points and the good head-start in their best-of-five affair.
The 6’2” Lam went on to finish with 12 points for the Dragons, who will seek their second straight win against the Beermen on Friday.
Coach Brian Goorjian commended the Dragons in their effort to get on top of their physical encounter with the Beermen.
“I’m proud of the way we got on top of it. We stayed in the game. We never let it go,” said Goorjian.
Duncan Reid showed the way for the Dragons with 30 points and 15 rebounds, while Zhongwei Zhu added 19.
Junemar Fajardo shot 11 points for the Beermen, with his floater in the last 50 seconds handing the Beermen their last taste of the lead, 102-99.
Hayden Blankly, who had 15 points, kept the Beermen from pulling away, by keeping the Dragons close, 101-102, with his layup off Glen Yang’s assist, before Lam hit his winning basket.
CJ Perez banged in 24 points for the Beermen including seven in the fourth.
Perez scored all of his baskets in the final period during a 7-0 blast in the last 5:54, wiping out a 93-96 deficit and put the Beermen ahead, 100-96, in the final 2:57.