MYLES Powell marked his return by promptly bringing Bay Area back to its winning ways.
Powell scattered 50 points in a steady stream of points that ultimately powered the Dragons to a 120-87 bounce-back victory over Rain or Shine Friday in the PBA Commissioner's Cup at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The former Philadelphia 76ers guard went 15-of-25 from the field, including a season-high 11 conversions out of 17 tries from beyond the arc, in enabling the Dragons to put behind them an 89-92 loss to Meralco last week and catch idle Converge at second on identical 7-2 slates.
"I was excited to be there with my brothers," said Powell who gave up his import slot to Andrew Nicholson in Bay Area's last four games but hardly showed any rust in the month-long layoff.
Like his star guard, Bay Area coach Brian Goorjian gave a big shoutout not only to Powell but also the team's strength and conditioning coach for making sure Powell remained sharp.
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"I thought the big thing is keeping these guys engaged even when they're not playing," said Goorjian. "You can see what he did tonight, he hasn't lost (a step) and he's probably gained during that period of time."
Goorjian also laid bare his team's intentions in their remaining elimination round games wherein they will be sticking with Powell with the hopes of wrapping up a win-once advantage in the quarterfinals. "We believe we have a real shake at this and a real shake at finishing at the top two," he said.
"Myles will take us to that point and then again we'll go from there," added Goorjian. "There's a huge advantage at finishing at the top two... so we're gonna do everything we can to try to get that top two position."
Powell could actually have surpassed Nicholson's season-high 50 points set in the Meralco game, but the Bay Area coaching staff opted to sit him out the rest of the way after leading the Dragons to an 87-58 lead at the end of the third period.
Those Dragons who saw action proved capable of fending off any E-Painters uprising and eventually finished off the win which was the fourth worst loss all-time in the Rain or Shine franchise.
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Rain or Shine's decision to replace Steve Taylor with Ryan Pearson did not produce the desired result, at least on its initial stab, as it dropped to a 4-5 record and a slot alongside idle NorthPort at seventh.
Probably suffering the ill effects of a 26-hour flight from New York that ended only Thursday evening and still feeling his way around, Pearson saw action for only 28 minutes, finishing with just nine points on 2-of-7 field shooting.
Anton Asistio's 20 points and Rey Nambatac's 12 markers were enough to lead the Elasto Painters, who managed to start well but completely faded after getting outscored, 59-31, in the two middle quarters largely due to Powell's exploits. (NC)
The Scores:
Bay Area 120 - 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 87 - 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.
Quarters: 28-27, 57-42, 87-58, 120-87
