SANTA ROSA – Cebu Chooks! hung on to beat Manila Chooks! in a tight finale, 20-18, to conquer the 2022 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3 Quest 2.0 before an appreciative crowd at the Ayala Malls Solenad here, Sunday night.
The country’s top-ranked 3×3 team needed help from Lady Luck once more like in the quarters, most especially in the endgame en route to catching the last flight to the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Hong Kong Masters on November 26-27.
Cebu joins Serbia’s Ub and Liman; Belgium’s Antwerp; Latvia’s Riga; the Netherlands’ Amsterdam; Austria’s Vienna; Lithuania’s Šakiai Gulbelė; Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy; China’s Beijing; Chinese-Taipei’s Kaohsiung; Indonesia’s Yogyakarta Gojek; and four Hong Kong teams in the tournament that is the last stop before the Abu Dhabi Final.
Cebu needs to win the tournament to advance to Abu Dhabi.
Coming off a rough run in the Riyadh Masters, Mac Tallo and the rest of the quartet will also take home Php 100,000 in ruling the Level 7 FIBA 3×3 Event.
“‘Yung no .1 na title, pwedeng makuha ng kahit sino. Pero ‘yung championship mahirap makuha,” offered the country’s no. 1 3×3 player. “We redeemed ourselves from our disappointing losses back in the Riyadh Masters.”
Tallo led Cebu with nine points, including back-to-back deuces that pulled his side within two points of clinching the match, 19-12, with 2:10 to play.
The crew aimed for the kill afterwards but struggled to do so, with Dennis Santos and Dave Ando leading the rally for Manila.
Mike Nzeusseu actually put Cebu on the hill through a slam, 20-16, with 1:15 left, but the opposition kept the fight. Import Henry Iloka scored back-to-back hits to cut the deficit to just two points nearing the last eight seconds.
Time and especially the breaks, however, were not in favor of Manila, and Cebu went on to celebrate winning its second title since ruling the Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3×3 Asia Pacific Super Quest last April 30 in the same venue.
Nzeusseu finished with seven points, while Brandon Ramirez and newcomer Marcus Hammonds combined for four markers in the triumph.
Cebu escaped Botolan Hayati in the last game of the elims before mauling Talisay EGS to reach the final.
Manila was led by the 16 points of Iloka in the defeat that wasted their perfect run to the title bout, which saw the unit sweep all of its three games in Pool B before downing GenSan and Butuan Chooks! in the knockout stages.
The Scores:
Finals
Cebu 20 – Tallo 9, Nzesseu 7, Ramirez 3, Hammonds 1,
Manila 18 – Santos 10, Iloka 4, Ando 3, Lorenzana 1.
Semifinals 1
Cebu 21 – Tallo 15, Hammonds 4, Nzeusseu 1, Ramirez 1.
Talisay 6 – Roncal 5, Akomo 1, Desiderio 0, Napao 0.
Time: 6:15 (Tallo – 2)
Semifinals 2
Manila 21 – Iloka 16, Lorenzana 2, Santos 2, Ando 1.
Butuan 15 – Cauilan 6, Octobre 5, Strait 2, Arafat 2.
Time: Buzzer (Santos – 2)
