MANILA, Philippines – The Bay Area quickly resumed its winning ways as MYLES Powell celebrated his comeback.

In the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Friday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, Powell scored a constant stream of points, eventually leading the Dragons to a 120 to 87 comeback triumph over Rain or Shine.

The former Philadelphia 76ers guard helped the Dragons put last week’s 89 to 92 setbacks to Meralco behind them and pass Converge at second on identical 7 to 2 slates by shooting 15 of 25 from the field, including a season-high 11 conversions out of 17 attempts from beyond the arc.

“I was happy to be there with my brothers,” said Powell, who had given up his import spot to Andrew Nicholson in the past four games for the Bay Area but had barely displayed any rust during the month-long break.

Like his star guard, Powell received praise from Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian for being kept in top form by the team’s strength and conditioning coach.

Goorjian stated, “I believed the big thing is keeping these people interested even when they’re not participating. “You can see what he did tonight; he hasn’t lost (a step), and possibly gained throughout that time,” the speaker said.

In addition, Goorjian revealed his team’s plans for the remaining games of the elimination phase, where they will continue to play Powell to secure a win-once advantage for the quarterfinals. He stated, “We think we have a real crack at this and a real shake at finishing in the top two.”

Goorjian continued, “Myles will take us to that point, and then we’ll again move from there.” We’ll do everything in our power to strive to finish in the top two positions because there is a significant advantage to doing so.

Powell had a chance to beat Nicholson’s 50-point season high from the Meralco game, but the Bay Area coaching staff decided to bench him for the remainder of the game after he helped the Dragons to an 87 to 58 lead at the end of the third.

The Dragons who participated in the game demonstrated their ability to thwart any E-Painters uprising and ultimately secured the victory, which overturned the franchise’s fourth-worst loss ever.

At least initially, Rain or Shine’s move to switch Steve Taylor for Ryan Pearson did not have the expected effect as the team plummeted to a 4 to 5 record and a tie for seventh place with inactive NorthPort.

Pearson played in just 28 minutes, ending with just nine points on 2-of-7 field shooting, likely feeling the effects of a 26-hour travel from New York that barely concluded Thursday evening.

The Elasto Painters, who managed to start strongly but completely faded after getting outscored, 59 to 31, in the two middle quarters partly owing to Powell’s exploits, were led by Anton Asistio with 20 points and Rey Nambatac with 12 points.

Scores at the end of the match

Bay Area with 120 points for the win.

Individual Scores: Powell 50, Liu 11, Song 9, Lam 9, Ju 7, Blankley 6, Zhu 6, Ewing 6, Si 6, Zheng 4, Yang 2, Zhang 2, Reid 2, Liang 0.

Rain or Shine with 87 points.

Individual Scores: Asistio 20, Nambatac 12, Pearson 9, Norwood 9, Nieto 8, Belga 6, Caracut 5, Ponferrada 5, Santillan 4, Clarito 3, Torres 2, Borboran 2, Demusis 2, Guinto 0, Mamuyac 0, Ildefonso 0. 

Scores per quarter

87 to 58, 87 to 58, 57 to 42, and 120 to 87.