MYLES Powell marked his return in a big way, carrying Bay Area to an 87-84 win over Barangay Ginebra on Wednesday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum that sent the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals to a Game Seven.
Powell finished with 29 points just a day after he was reactivated in lieu of the injured Andrew Nicholson. He delivered the big baskets that enabled the Dragons to force a winner-take-all match at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
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The Commissioner's Office later announced that it was moving Game Seven from Friday to Sunday.
The Bay Area import scored two consecutive lay-ups to give his team an 85-82 lead. Ginebra was unable to respond as its shooting turned cold down the stretch, and Powell nailed the critical free throws in the end in front of 22,361 fans at the Big Dome.
Hayden Blankley also produced for the Dragons with 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from threes, helping the foreign guest team overcome a 73-66 deficit early in the fourth quarter.
“It’s totally will,” said Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian in describing the effort of the players particularly Powell.
Powell missed a free throw, but grabbed the offensive rebound and made another free throw to settle the final score with five seconds left.
Powell remained unbeaten in the nine PBA games he has played. One more win will make Bay Area only the second foreign guest team after Nicholas Stoodley in 1980 yo win a championship in Asia's first pro league.
Ginebra still had one last chance to tie the game but Bay Area's defense kept the ball from Brownlee's hands, forcing Japeth Aguilar to take a three-pointer which he missed at the buzzer.
Brownlee had 37 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists for another triple double while Christian Standhardinger had 12 points including back-to-back field goals that enabled Ginebra to post that seven-point lead.
The scores:
Bay Area 87 – Powell 29, Blankley 23, Yang 10, Zhu 10, Lam 9, Liu 4, Reid 2, Zheng 0.
Barangay Ginebra 84 – Brownlee 37, J. Aguilar 12, Standhardinger 12, Thompson 8, Pringle 8, Malonzo 4, Pinto 3, Gray 0, Tenorio 0.
Quarters: 25-20; 50-42; 66-64; 87-84.