CEBU CITY – Ub Huishan NE survived Sansar MMC Energy, 21-19, to secure the first quarterfinal ticket in the Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3×3 World Tour Cebu Masters 2023, Saturday at the SM Seaside City here.
Strahinja Stojacic finished with six points, none bigger than his deuce to call game with 47.7 seconds left as the Serbians overcame another tough test on their way to clinching the Pool A top seed with a 2-0 card.
The crew went up against a hard-fighting Wuxi to start their campaign, but found ways to escape the upset ax and leave with the 21-16 victory.
Stojacic, the world’s top 3×3 player, was also the one who punched in the game-winning bucket in that duel that gave his side the early group leadership.
He’d surely be a marked man come the quarters, where Ub will be facing the no. 2 team in Pool C, but it’s not him alone that should be the cause of concern.
Vladimir Dordevic and Marko Brankovic also scored six points apiece in their conquest of Sansar, while Dejan Majstorovic added three as they showed the same balance that has led to six World Tour leg titles thus far this season.
Wasted by the loss, on the other hand, was the 11-point effort of Anand Ariunbold to lead Sansar. Enkhbaatar Onolbaatar backed him up with six.
Still, all is not lost on the Mongolian crew. They would need to beat Wuxi to finish as the second-best team in the pool to enter the quarters.
Joining Ub in the knockouts’ opening round on Sunday are Amsterdam HiPro, Vienna, and Miami as the three also swept their respective clusters.
Amsterdam were the second team to reach the quarters following a 21-18 win over Paris, securing the no. 1 seed in Pool B in the process.
Worthy De Jong powered the team from the Netherlands with 12 points, carrying over his excellent play from their 19-12 triumph over San Juan of Puerto Rico that saw him finish with a game-high 10 points.
Vienna followed suit after a convincing 21-13 win over Futian to top Pool C, with Enis Murati leading the balanced attack with seven points.
Miami later on finished as the only other unbeaten team in the tilt after withstanding Dulguun Enkhbat and Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy, 21-18.
Kareem Maddox nailed the game-winning lay-up with 2:52 to spare as the Americans owned Pool D, and, more importantly, kept their hopes of breaking through in this year’s World Tour very much alive.
Jimmer Fredette finished with a game-high 11 points. Canyon Barry supplied five points while Maddox and Dylan Travis scored four and one, respectively.
The scores:
Pool A 2
Ub Huishan NE (21) – Stojacic 6, Dordevic 6, Brankovic 6 Majstorovic 3.
Sansar MMC Energy (19) – Ariunbold 11, Onolbaatar 6, Nasanbat 2, Chuluunbaatar 0.
Pool B 2
Amsterdam HiPRO (21) – De Jong 12, Thelissen 6, Driessen 2, Jaring 1.
Paris (18) – Seguela 11, Rambaut 4, Vialaret 2, Aygalenq 1.
Pool C 2
Vienna (21) – Murati 7, Linortner 6, Diggs 5, Kaltenbrunner 3.
Futian (13) – Guo 8, Zhang 3, van der Horst 2, Chen 0.
Pool D 2
Miami (21) – Fredette 11, Barry 5, Maddox 4, Travis 1.
Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy (18) – Enkhbat 6, Sir 5, Davaasambuu 5, Tsogt 2.
