Filipino bets Cebu and Manila Chooks both crashed out of the Chooks-To-Go FIBA 3x3 World Tour Manila Masters after bowing to their respective opponents on Sunday, May 29 at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Paranaque City.
Manila Chooks couldn’t sustain its good start as the hometown bets yielded to Sansar MMC Energy of Mongolia, 21-17, while Cebu was totally outclassed by much bigger and stronger Liman of Serbia 21-11.
Henry Iloka started out strong for Manila as the Filipinos pounced the ball inside the paint but lost steam down the stretch allowing the Mongolians to comeback and clinch the victory with 1:53 left in the game.
Sansar, trailing 8-12 after a booming right corner triple from Chico Lanete, unloaded a back-breaking 7-0 attack that gave them a 15-12 advantage. Anand Ariunbold spearheaded the onslaught with back-to-back two pointers that gave them the lead for good.
It was a disappointing finish for the Filipino bets who, after going down 3-0 in the early goings, went to Iloka who scored five straight points for Manila.
Iloka finished with seven points and seven rebounds while Lanete who was the hero for Manila in the group stage struggled to find the mark with just four markers.
Cebu, on the other hand, couldn’t find the bottom of the net as it was obviously bothered by the longer and more athletic Serbians. Liman fired from all cylinders as it left Cebu in the dust with a 10-1 start.
PH’s top 3x3 player Mac Tallo tried to light up the fight for the Filipinos but the one-two punch of Mihailo Vasic and Nebojsa Kilijan proved to be too much to bear for Cebu as they provided 15 points of Liman’s total output and close out the game with still 2:54 left in the game.
Tallo and Zach Huang finished with four points apiece for Cebu while Mike Harry Nzeusseu was limited to just three markers.