Bay Area defeated Rain or Shine, 126 to 96, on Friday at the Philsports Arena in Pasig to earn a spot in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals. Hayden Blankley had a standout performance.

The 22-year-old Australian demonstrated that the visiting team’s famed imports are not its only strengths by finishing with 47 points on a scorching 10-of-13 shooting from outside the arc and 10 rebounds for his best-ever performance.

He contributed 11 of his points in the first half, which helped the Dragons build a 60 to 44 advantage at the break. Late in the third quarter, he also gave his team its largest lead of the game, 34 points, at 85 to 51.

People need to step up because the playoffs have begun, said Blankley. And I just knew that I wanted to get us going and have a good playoff start.

He also provided a proper greeting for Andrew Nicholson, who after an extended absence contributed significantly to the win with 32 points on 57 percent shooting and eight rebounds.

In place of Myles Powell, who suffered a foot injury during practice just a few days earlier, the seasoned big man was reintroduced.

For Bay Area, which shot 55.4 percent from the field and made a total of 21 three-pointers, all but two of the players on the court scored at least two points. Glen Yang also contributed with 13 points and 10 assists.

Coach Brian Goorjian said that “our perimeter players stood up.” And the best part for us is that our Chinese players have greatly developed throughout the competition, which is a compliment to the PBA.

The Dragons, who were the top seed entering the playoffs, will now wait to find out who will prevail between San Miguel and Converge as their semifinal opponent. The best-of-three match is currently in the Beermen’s favor, and they might win it on Saturday.

Rey Nambatac, who played for the Elasto Painters, led the team with 19 points and shot 11 of 12 from the charity line in the 30-point rout.

In the loss, Mike Nieto and Andrei Caracut both scored 12 points, and Ryan Pearson added 15 points and five rebounds.

The Dragons were all over the Elasto Painters as they demonstrated their superb shooting on way to a 55-percent clip from the field. Bay Area also controlled the battle of the boards, 55-35, had more assists, 30-21 and had 46-30 points on the paint edge. The fiery Rey Nambatac of RoS scored 19. On the other hand, the import Ryan Pearson scored a good 15 points, on top of a decent 5 rebounds. Andrei Caracut and Mike Nieto chipped in 12 points each off the bench for Rain or Shine, whose playoff trip came to a premature end under home coach Yeng Guiao.

Blankley blasted a PBA career-high 47 points, nailing 17 of his 21 shots from the floor, including 10 triples in 13 attempts for Bay Area. 

On the other side, the 6-9 Nicholson, stepping in for the injured American import Myles Powell, hammered in 32 points, to go along with his eight rebounds. 

The Bay Area combo of Blankley and Nicholson proved too potent and unstoppable as they thrashed their Rain or Shine defenders with enthusiasm. 

Goorjian said Powell went down with a major foot injury during practice three days ago, leaving the team with little alternative but to reactivate Nicholson, who only played his fifth game this conference as Bay Area’s reinforcement.

Scores at the end of the match

Bay Area with 126 points

Individual scores: Blankley 47, Nicholson 32, Yang 13, Zhu 9, Song 6, Zheng 5, Lam 5, Liu 4, Ewing 3, Reid 2, Si 0, Ju 0, Zhang 0.

Rain or Shine with 96 points

Individual scores: Nambatac 19, Pearson 15, Caracut 12, Nieto 12, Asistio 9, Mamuyac 8, Clarito 7, Santillan 7, Belga 3, Ponferrada 1, Norwood 0, Guinto 0, Ildefonso 0, Torres 0.

Scores per quarter

27 to 16, 60 to 44, 92 to 68, 126 to 96