THE Hong Kong Bay Area Dragons roared to a 130-76 rout of Terrafirma on Friday in the Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
Former National Basketball Association (NBA) big man Andrew Nicholson erupted for 37 points—31 points he made at the half—and hailed down 10 rebounds for the guest team.
Bay Area Dragons coach Brian Goorjian didn’t expect the rout to start as early as halftime, knowing Terrafirma as a “dangerous” opponent despite being winless now in six games.
“We talked a lot coming to this game. We had a two-week break and we had a great start to the season,” Goorjian said. “This Terrafirma team, although they are at the bottom, they have been dangerous.”
“The guys will have a little break now and we want to finish this thing off right,” he added.
It was Terrafirma’s 22nd consecutive defeat since last season’s Governors’ Cup. The Bay Area Dragons’ 54-point winning margin was also one point shying of the biggest winning margin in league history set by UTex over Great Taste, 154-99, on last July 12, 1980.
Qilong Zheng added 17 points while Jianhua Song registered 15 points and Zhu Songwei had 12 points for the Dragons, who improved to 6-1 won-lost.
The Bay Dragons jumped to 35-18 after first quarter and looked invincible, 67-37, at the half.
Juami Tiongson scored 21 points to lead Terrafirma while import Lester Prosper had 18 points.