Zhu Songwei of Bay Area Dragons defends against Robbie Herndon of San Miguel Beer in this bit of action in the PBA Commissioner’ Cup at the Smart Arabeta Coliseum.
Dragons in easy win
BAY Area Dragons capitalized on the absence of June Mar Fajardo to roll back San Miguel Beer, 113-87, in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
NBA veteran Andrew Nicholson finished with game-highs of 39 points and 12 rebounds for the Dragons, who led by as many as 30 points on the way to their fifth win against only one loss.
Nicholson, who was seected 19th overall in the 2012 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic, went 13-of-30 from the floor, including 5-of-12 from the rainbow territory, for coach Brian Goorjian.
“We didn’t get physically manhandled… we moved the ball a lot better and… we learned from the loss, which was nice to see, and we got better against a quality team,” said Goorjian.
“So we’re happy with tonight’s performance.”
Hayden Joel Blankley added 17 points and nine rebounds, Kobey Ketavong Lam had 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, Songwei Zhu contributed 16 points and five rebounds and Chuanxing Liu had a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Dragons.
CJ Perez carried the fight for San Miguel with 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in more than 37 minutes for San Miguel, which dropped to 1-2.
Vic Manuel (15 points) and import Diamond Stone (11 points, 14 rebounds) were the only other players in double figures for the Beermen, who played minus Fajardo.
SMB officials said Fajardo is expected to be out for a month after undergoing surgery for a throat injury.
Fajardo averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds and 4.0 assists in San Miguel first two games.
Stone was big letdown for the Beermen, hiting a career-low 11 points on 5-of-18 from the field, including 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.
The scores:
Bay Area (113) — Nicholson 39, Blankley 17, Zhu 16, Lam 16, Liu 12, Reid 6, Song 3, Ju 2, Ewing 2, Zheng 0, Yang 0, Si 0, Liang 0.
San Miguel (87) — Perez 19, Manuel 15, Stone 11, Enciso 9, Tautuaa 9, Cruz 8, Lassiter 7, Brondial 4, Zamar 3, Ross 2, Herndon 0, Canete 0.
Quarterscores: 28-17, 58-40, 86-58, 113-87.
Games Wednesday:
(Philsports Arena)
3 p.m. — Meralco vs. Phoenix
5: 45 p.m. — TNT vs. NLEX
