Lervin Flores flexed his might inside the shaded area to power TNT past the hard-fighting Blancas, 15-13, and rule the Red Bull 3x3 Half Court National Finals anew on Saturday evening, April 27, at the Bonifacio Shrine in Manila.

Flores cashed in six of his eight points at the paint – including his two-point play with 4.8 seconds remaining – that blew away the hopes of the Davaoeño cagers and gave the Triple Giga a precious spot in October’s World Finals in New York City.

TNT head coach Mau Belen offered nothing but sweet words for the Blancas, saying the strong run of the Davao squad is a testament to the growth of 3x3 basketball here in the country.

“The sport is growing. I mean the people are playing the 3x3 basketball the right way,” Belen said.

“That’s why ‘yong level ng competition is ganu’n na kataas. Sobrang ganda nito para sa sport,” she added.

Davao City spitfire and crowd favorite Limuel Tampus, along Arnel Molina and Marvin Samonte anchored the Blancas’ offensive rally to seize a 9-6 cushion against the much-experienced TNT, which is armed with international and professional experience.

However, the Triple Giga leaned on their mainstay Almond Vosotros, who displayed his veteran poise and sank a couple of two-pointers that kept TNT afloat and weathered off Tampus’ dazzling performance.

Before the final round, TNT annihilated Tipuno X (17-9) while Blancas humbled Kingpin (16-11) in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Uratex Dream went back-to-back and will go to The Big Apple as well after beating Discovery Perlas, 9-6, in the women’s national finals.

Uratex, which was led by Afril Bernardino along Kaye Pingol, Samantha Harada and Eunique Chan proved they are too much against their Filipina rivals.

Both TNT and Uratex represented the Philippines in last year's tournament held in Belgrade, Serbia.