Pasig TNT could not advance to the main draw of the 2023 FIBA 3×3 World Tour Macau Masters after going 1-1 in the qualifying draw on Saturday at Macau New Urban Zone.
The Filipinos opened their campaign with a crushing 22-14 (8:49) loss to fifth seed Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy before outlasting Doha Expo 21-19 (overtime) to give them at least a shot of making it to the main draw.
However, Ulaanbaatar outclassed Doha with a 20-17 victory to join Beijing and Marseille in Pool D.
With debuting Serbian import Marko Dugosija leading the charge for the Mongolians, Ulaanbaatar broke a 12-12 deadlock midway through the opening tilt, going on a 6-0 spurt to take control of the game.
An Almond Vosotros deuce with 1:19 left stopped the bleeding for Pasig TNT but back-to-back twos by Otgonjargal Tsogt and Dugosija sealed the deal for Ulaanbaatar.
Pasig TNT went off to the races to start the second game, gaining a 19-11 lead with 3:48 remaining.
Needing to rack up the points in case of a tiebreak, Pasig TNT went two-point-hunting but to no avail.
Slowly, Doha chipped into the lead with Nedim Muslic knocking down a very contested two over the outstretched arms of Raoul Odou with 10 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
Vosotros did not allow any upsets to happen, sinking a deuce in the race to two extra time to give themselves a fighting chance.
However, Delgernyam Davaasambuu and Tsogt were just too dominant for Doha in the final game of the qualifiers.
Vosotros tallied a total of 13 points in the QD for TNT while Odou accumulated eight points.
Exciminiano scored seven points against Doha while Mendoza scored as many points against Ulaanbaatar.
Pasig TNT finished in 11th place among 12 teams.
The Scores:
QD Game 1:
Pasig 14 – Mendoza 7, Vosotros 5, Odou 2, Exciminiano 0.
Ulaanbaatar 22 – Dugosija 8, Sir 6, Tsogt 4, Davaasambuu 4.
Time: Dugosija (2), 1:11
QD Game 2:
Pasig 21 – Vosotros 8, Exciminiano 7, Odou 6, Mendoza 0.
Doha 19 – Janjić 8, Ndour 6, Muslic 3, Abilmona 2.
Time: Vosotros (2), overtime
QD Game 3:
Ulaanbaatar 20 – Davaasambuu 8, Tsogt 7, Sir 5.
Doha 17 – Janjić 6, Abilmona 5, Ndour 4, Muslic 2.
