The Foton Tornadoes closed their 2018 Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Grand Prix campaign by repeating as bronze medalists and outlasting the Cocolife Asset Managers, 21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-18, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
After several mid-season additions and an import change, Foton finished the season with their second consecutive Grand Prix bronze medal. Cocolife, who had revamped their coaching staff and imports, also replicated their performance in 2017 by finishing in fourth.
American Channon Thompson fired in 26 points to lead the Tornadoes, while recently-crowned UAAP MVP Jaja Santiago added 23.
“Today we went out to get third place and we all decided that this is our last opportunity to play in this conference together,” said Thompson.
“We don’t know what the future holds and so we said let’s play with our hearts and let’s play this sport that we love and enjoy and let’s just go and have fun more than anything else. That really was the motivating factor going out into this game,” the American import added.
Foton nearly finished their season with a flurry, improving on their 5-4 elimination round start only to fall to defending champs F2 Logistics.
Serbian’s Marta Drpa and Sara Klisura agains powered the Asset Managers, scoring 23 and 14 apiece.
The Scores
Foton (3) – Thompson 26, Santiago 23, Manabat 11, Carlos 8, Ortiz 5, Manabat 3, Perez 2, Aganon 1, Sy 1, Vukomanovic (L)
Cocolife (1) – Drpa 23, Klisura 13, Tubino 7, Pabayo 6, Bautista 5, Salak 5, Alkuino 1, Tejada 1, Gonzales 0, Patnongon 0, Vukomanovic (L)
