By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Kobey Lam scored on a game-winning layup to cap off the Bay Area Dragons’ come-from-behind 103-102 win over San Miguel Beermen in Game 1 of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals at the PhilSports Arena yesterday.

Down 99-102 with 50 seconds left following a layup by Beermen’s June Mar Fajardo, the Dragons first cut the deficit to 101-102 on a layup by Hayden Blankley with 37 seconds left.

Lam then surged the Bay Area ahead at 103-102 with seven seconds remaining with a layup. The Beermen still had a chance to win it but Devon Scott missed on his turnaround shot at the buzzer.

Andrew Nicholson led the way with double-double 30 points and 15 rebounds, while Songwei Zhu added 19 markers as the Dragons took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five semifinals series.

Blankley chipped in 15 markers to go with nine rebounds, while Mingxin Ju and Lam chipped in 13 and 12 markers, respectively, while Glen Yang had nine points and six rebounds for the Dragons.

The Beermen had a dominant start in Game 1 and even led by as much as 18 points before the Dragons clawed their way back in the fourth quarter to take a 96-93 lead on baskets by Zhu and Blankley.

San Miguel Beer then rode on consecutive shots by Jaymar Perez to regain a 100-96 lead. The Bay Area cut it to 99-100 on baskets by Zhu and Yang, but Fajardo widened it to 102-99 with a layup.

Perez led the way with 24 points, Terrence Romeo and Marcio Lassiter added 21 and 16 markers, respectively, while Fajardo and Ilonggo Jericho Cruz had 11 points each for the Beermen.

BAY AREA 103 — Nicholson 30, Zhu 19, Blankley 15, Ju 13, Lam 12, Yang 9, Liu 5, Song 0, Reid 0.

SAN MIGUEL 102 — Perez 24, Romeo 21, Lassiter 16, Cruz 11, Fajardo 11, Scott 9, Enciso 8, Ross 2, Brondial 0.

Quarterscores: 23-31, 51-59, 78-89, 103-102./ASC, WDJ