MANILA, Philippines – The Bay Area Dragons, a Hong Kong guest team to the league, immediately issued a stern warning about an impending invading force in the PBA. 

The Dragons, making their Commissioner’s Cup debut, destroyed Blackwater, 133-87, thanks to Myles Powell’s 41-point sizzler, and are off to a great start. 

The 6-foot-2 Mr. Powell, the team’s import in its first four assignments, ran rings around the Bossing’s defenders and scored on half of his 28 attempts to serve as the game’s catalyst as the debutants stomped out the opposition 36-19 in the first quarter.

When Powell was joined in his unrelenting assault by Glen Yang (22), Zhu Songwei (13), Kobey Lam (13) and Hayden Blankley (11) the Dragons went on to record the largest win margin by a visiting team in PBA history – that is a whopping 46 points.

Bay Area head coach Brian Goorjian recounts,  “I think at the start of the game, our defense was good. We stayed in front of them. We did a good job on the on-balls, and then on the offensive end, we really clicked.”

JV Casio, a veteran, and Troy Rosario, a recent forward acquisition for Blackwater, who were both presumably nursing ailments, were both absent from the game. 

The Dragons stormed ahead with an 18-2 run, highlighted by a Powell-and-one conversion at the 7:06 mark for the 21-7 margin, and never looked back after the Bossing barely tasted a fleeting 5-3 lead early in the game. 

The Bay Area team maintained its momentum as it breached a 40 point deficit late in the fourth and peaked with a 46-point gap to determine the final score.

With a strong 13-point, 14-rebound double-double accompanied by 9 offensive rebounds, top rookie of the year candidate Ato Ular led the Bossing, which suffered its seventh straight defeat after going 5-1 in the Philippine Cup. Rashawn McCarthy scored 11 points off the bench on 5-of-14 shooting. 

Import Cameron Krutwig finished with 12 rebounds, 8 assists, and 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting, falling two assists short of a triple-double. 

“Everyone is confined. Whatever the coach asked us to do, we did, and that was evident tonight, according to Powell, the shortest import in the mid-season tournament with a maximum height of 6 feet and 10 inches. “We work together on everything. There is no distinction between Chinese and imports. It’s easy because we have a good set of men that really want to lock in and win,” he adds.

Cameron Krutwig, Powell’s opponent, did not provide much for Blackwater; he managed only 11, making only five of his 16 attempts while grabbing 12 rebounds. 

Ato Ular, a rookie, contributed a 13–14 double-double for the Bossing, who decided to rest Troy Rosario, a trade acquisition, in the first game. Gab Banal, the other newcomer from the historic exchange involving Blackwater, TNT, and NLEX, played for 17 minutes but rather failed to register a point.

NorthPort will get the unenviable task of testing the Dragons next on Saturday, September 24, 4:30 pm, also at the MOA Arena, while Blackwater shoots for a bounce-back that same day at 6:45 pm against Phoenix.

Scores at the end of the match:

Bay Area with 133 points for the win.

Individual Scores: Powell 41, Yang 22, Zhu 13, Lam 13, Blankley 11, Liu 9, Zheng 7, Song 5, Reid 5, Liang 3, Ewing 3, Ju 1.

Blackwater with 87 points.

Individual Scores:  Ular 13, Krutwig 11, McCarthy 11, Amer 10, Ayonayon 10, Taha 8, Jackson 8, Go 5, Suerte 3, Dyke 3, Sena 3, Publico 2.

Scores per Quarter: 36 – 19, 64 – 36, 97 – 76, 133 – 87