Ub Huishan stamped its class anew and ruled the Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3x3 World Tour Manila Masters for its second-straight leg title at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati over the weekend.
Ub Huishan rules FIBA 3x3 Manila Masters
At a glance
Ub Huishan stamped its class anew and ruled the Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3x3 World Tour Manila Masters for its second-straight leg title at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati over the weekend.
Ub Huishan wins its second leg title this season (Fiba photo)
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Ub, which also won the Utsunomiya opener, survived a gutsy Futian squad from China in the final, 21-17, to take home a $40,000 dollar top prize.
Although the favorites to win it all, the Serbian team was pushed to its limits by a formidable Chinese team spearheaded by new recruits Dimeo van der Horst and Thibaut Vervoort.
After taking a comfortable 11-6 lead in the finale, Ub saw the hard-fighting Futian battle back and even cut the lead down to just one 18-17 inside the final three minutes of the contest.
That, however, was when the championship poise of Ub led by world no.1 3x3 player Strahinja Stojacic along with Marko Brankovic and Dejan Majstorovic showed up.
Brankovic nailed a booming deuce to shove Ub into the match point before Stojacic, who was later on hailed as leg’s MVP, dished a perfectly timed assist to Majstorovic for the title-clinching layup.
Meanwhile, Filipino pro-dunker David Carlos made sure the hosts won’t be ending the leg empty handed after winning the dunk contest.
Carlos edged Australia's Brodie Stephens and fellow local dunker Daniel Marcelo to win a $4,000 prize in front of a packed crowd – a fitting respite to PH’s heartbreaks after Manila Chooks! bowed out of the competition on the first day.
The team composed of Mac Tallo, Dennis Santos, Tosh Sesay, and Paul Desiderio fell to Utsunomiya BREX in the its opening game, 22-18 before falling to eventual champion Ub, 21-9.