By MARK REY MONTEJO

Pasig TNT came up short against Futian, 20-18, in the semifinals to settle for a fourth-place finish at the World Hoops Penang FIBA 3x3 Challenger 2023 on Sunday, June 11, at the Main Atrium of Queensbay Mall in Malaysia.

TNT Pasig Triple Giga. (TNT Tropang Giga's Facebook post)

The Triple Giga engaged Futian in a nip-and-tuck affair with the scored tied 14-all midway through the contest before the Filipinos seemingly lost their steam towards the end and allowed the Chinese team to escape with the win.

Pasig TNT simply couldn’t buy any basket in the final minutes as Guo Hanyu spearheaded a telling 5-1 scoring run for Futian.

Guo led Futian with seven points while Dutch Dimeo van der Horst added six.

Raoul Odou paced the Triple Giga’s valiant stand, listing eight points while Almond Vosotros and Gryann Mendoza finished with five and four points, respectively.

Entering the tournament as heavy underdogs as the 10th seed, the Filipinos turned heads and went on with the magical run that saw them stun Lublin of Poland, 21-13, to qualify to the playoffs despite falling to Beijing, 19-21, in their first group stage assignment.

Pasig TNT then pulled the rug from under heavy favorites and third seed New York Harlem, 21-18, behind the stellar performance from Gryann Mendoza and Almond Vosotros to advance to the Final Four.

Beijing then went on to rule the competition after beating Futian, 21-18, in the final to earn a trip to the World Tour Macau Masters on July 8-9.