Dragons tear Dyip to pieces

MANILA, Philippines —  Bay Area pulled no punches against freefalling Terrafirma and produced the second most lopsided win in PBA history at 54 points.

Sparked by Andrew Nicholson’s early explosion and an impenetrable defensive wall, the Dragons firebombed the Dyip, 130-76, for a 6-1 card in the Commissioner’s Cup yesterday at the PhilSports Arena.

Nicholson outscored the entire Dyip crew in the opening skirmish, 19 to 18, as the Dragons seized a 17-point spread that set the tone for what nearly became the biggest winning margin in the pro league.

Bay Area’s 54-point spread fell one shy of the all-time high of 55 achieved by Utex in a 154-99 rout of Great Taste way back 1980. It put the guest team from Hong Kong in a tie for No. 2 with Utex’ 170-116 romp over Fiberglass in 1976 and Shell’s 154-100 blowout of Tanduay in 1986.

“We’re certainly not trying to win by this amount. What happened today was that the Chinese kids who haven’t had much opportunity to play much, when they got a sniff, they were so excited and played with so much energy so there was no letup,” coach Brian Goorjian said.

Goorjian got 55 markers from his bench crew in a nice complement to Nicholson’s game-high 37.

Nicholson also put the cuffs on Terrafirma counterpart Lester Proper, who finished with 18, and anchored the Dragons’ stifling defense that forced the Dyip to miss 60 of their 89 attempts all game.

The Dyip fell to 0-6 and saw their long-standing skid stretched to a 22nd game since last season.

Later, Quincy Miller posted 24 points, 16 rebounds and nine blocks while Aljun Melecio had a career-high 18 points as Converge dealt San Miguel Beer back-to-back losses, 106-102, and grabbed a share of third at 3-2.

After squandering a 17-point lead, the FiberXers regrouped and unleashed an 11-0 blast to regain control late, 106-100.

The June Mar Fajardo-less Beermen, who debuted new import Devon Scott (16-15-6), fell to 1-3 overall.

Meanwhile, Blackwater (3-3) looks to break its blow-hot, blow-cold trend as it targets back-to-back today against a TNT side (2-2) out for a turnaround after a 110-101 loss to NLEX last Wednesday.

The Bossing and the Tropang Giga, who figured in a three-team swap that sent TNT regular Troy Rosario to Blackwater, face off at 4:30 p.m.

Meralco (1-4) and Rain or Shine (2-3) tangle at 6:45 p.m. in a duel of struggling teams bent on arresting a two-game slide.