By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Bay Area Dragons survived a tough stand by San Miguel Beermen to reach the finals of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup after a 94-92 escape in Game 4 of the semifinals at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Wednesday night, December 21.

From a tightly-contested battle since the opening quarter, the Dragons found themselves down 88-89 late in the fourth quarter before Kobe Lam and Andrew Nicholson drilled back-to-back shot clock-beating triples to take a 94-90 advantage.

The Beermen had opportunities to come close, but Devon Scott missed two free throws while Jaymar Perez and Marcio Lassiter misfired their shot attempts with 34 seconds remaining.

Scott grabbed the offensive rebound and drew a foul and scored two free throws to cut the deficit to 92-94. The Beermen had a chance to tie the score but Perez missed his triple while teammate June Mar Fajardo also missed his inside attempt.

Nicholson finished the game with double-double 42 points and 21 rebounds, while Lam and Hayden Blankley added 26 and 12 markers, respectively, as the Dragons clinched the best-of-five semis series at 3-1.

“Three games but two points. I don’t think I’ve ever been in the series, and I’ve been in the game a long time. It was like that. Three of the four games are last second. Incredible,” Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian said.

Perez top-scored for the Beermen with 28 points, Scott flirted with triple-double with 25 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists, Marcio Lassiter added 14 markers, while Fajardo had 12 rebounds to go with nine markers.

The Dragons championship series with crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Kings will begin on Christmas Day at 5:00 p.m. at the same venue.

BAY AREA 94 — Nicholson 42, Lam 26, Blankley 12, Zhu 7, Yang 3, Ju 2, Song 2, Liu 0, Reid 0.

SAN MIGUEL 92 — Perez 28, Scott 25, Lassiter 14, Fajardo 9, Enciso 5, Cruz 4, Brondial 4, Romeo 3, Ross 0, Manuel 0.

Quarterscores: 17-16, 46-38, 69-72, 94-92./ASC, WDJ