Balanga Chooks-to-Go could not convert late, suffering a heartbreaking 18-19 loss to USA’s Colorado City to open their 2019 FIBA 3X3 Bucharest Challenger qualifying draw campaign, Saturday afternoon (Manila Time) at the Parklake Shopping Mall in Romania.
The loss sent Balanga to a must-win game against Russia’s Kochenevo at 4:40 pm. Moreover, the Philippine-side hopes to see Colorado City lose to the Russians at 4:00 pm to have a chance for a three-way tie.
Balanga had multiple chances late to steal this one from Canyon Barry and the Americans.
Down 17-19 with a minute left after a dunk by Jonathan Octeus, Chris Dechavez, who had the hot hand all game long missed with a long deuce.
Colorado tried to seal the win with multiple two attempts but could not convert any of them. Dechavez then found a wide open Lamar Roberson underneath to cut the lead to a solitary point with 15 ticks left.
Balanga was able to force a shot-clock violation with 2.1 ticks remaining. With no time left, Karl Dehesa threw up a deuce off the inbound but could not find the hole.
Dechavez led Balanga with nine points spiked by four deuces. Roberson, who replaced Alvin Pasaol in the lineup, added four points while Travis Franklin and Karl Dehesa chipped in three and two markers each.
Canyon Barry, son of Rick Barry, led Colorado with seven points. Octeus and Sanjay Lumpkin had five markers each.
The Scores:
Balanga 18 – Dechavez 9, Roberson 4, Franklin 3, Dehesa 2.
Colorado City 19 – Barry 7, Lumpkin 5, Octeus 5, Braun 2
