PBA guest team Bay Area Dragons defeat Ateneo in tuneup game

The Bay Area Dragons picked up a win over the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, 102-93, in a closed-door tuneup game held on Saturday at the Moro Lorenzo Gym in Ateneo.

A pair of former NBA players led the way for Bay Area, which will be competing as a guest team in the PBA Commissioner's Cup. Andrew Nicholson led the way with 20 points, alongside four rebounds and a steal, while Myles Powell added 16 points, six assists, and three rebounds.

Ange Kouame, who missed the Blue Eagles' recent campaign in the World University Basketball Series, returned to the court with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Dave Ildefonso posted 18 markers to lead Ateneo while Forthsky Padrigao also contributed 12 points, five rebounds, five assists, and a steal for the Blue Eagles.

Bay Area's Nicholson and Powell spearheaded a strong start for the visiting team as the Dragons took a 17-point lead in the second quarter. Their advantage reached as high as 22 points in the second half before a 12-2 run by Ateneo closed the distance in the fourth period. The Blue Eagles got to as close as seven points, 100-93, to give the Dragons a late scare before the guests clinched the win.

"We knew it would be tough, a really good workout for us. Happy that the team competed until the very end," Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin said.

"We haven't had many games, the competition in Japan was good but not at this level. We have a lot of holes, both offensively and defensively. We need to be tougher competitively."

“[It was] a really good game for us. We wanted to play a team that was physical, played real hard, and played together,” said Bay Area head coach Brian Goorjian after the game.

“I know Coach Baldwin and I know his reputation. I’ve competed against him for years and I knew that he’d have a team like that and in our development as a brand new team, we needed a game like this.”

The scores:

Bay Area 102 – Nicholson 20, Powell 16, Yang 15, Blankley 14, Zheng 8, Ewing 8, Ju 6, Reid 5, Song 5, Lam 5, Zhang 0, Si 0, Zhu 0.

Ateneo 93 – Ildefonso 18, Kouame 14, Padrigao 12, Ballungay 11, Andrade 10, Obasa 8, Garcia 5, Fetalvero 5, Chiu 4, Koon 4, Lazaro 2, Quitevis 0.

Quarters: 29-17, 54-39, 84-64, 102-93.

—JMB, GMA News