Manila Chooks TM suffered defeats to Antwerp and Edmonton to bow out of the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Montreal Masters Saturday, Sept. 4 at the Place des Festivals in Canada.
The team of Mark Yee, Mac Tallo, Zach Huang and Dennis Santos fell 21-11 to Antwerp before dropping a 21-16 decision to Edmonton hours later to finish 10th in the 12-team field.
“We have no excuses,” said head trainer Aldin Ayo, who watched the two games back home. “Hindi lumabas yung mga pinractice namin.
“We as coaches are accountable, lalo na ako, sa result ng campaign natin. Hindi ko napalabas yung mga pinrepare natin,” added Ayo.
It was the campaign Manila had hoped for after splitting its two games during the Doha Masters earlier this year.
Right from the beginning, Manila had trouble against Antwerp, ranked No. 8 in the FIBA 3x3 World Tour rankings.
Nick Celis and Thierry Marien, members of the Belgian national team that placed fourth in last month’s Tokyo Olympics, inflicted damage on Manila as Antwerp led 8-1 at the start and never looked back.
Tallo gave Manila some hope by knocking down back-to-back two-point shots to cut the deficit to 16-10, but it wasn’t enough as Antwerp was able to close it out with 3:14 left in the contest.
Manila tried to salvage its stint against Edmonton, engaging in a tight encounter until the Canadian side was able to pull away and seal the win on Alex Johnson’s game-winner with 2:53 to go.
Tallo finished with 11 points on three two-pointers for Manila in the loss to Edmonton.